'Had Two Options- Cut Gradually Or Instantly; I Chose Latter': Twitter's Ex-CEO Jack Dorsey Fires 40% Employees In Block

Financial technology company Block CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000-plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalise on its use of artificial intelligence. "The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company," Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. "A significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more

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and do it better," he said.

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company.

####

today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are…

— jack (@jack) February 26, 2026

AI doomsday is coming true?

Dorsey's comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the move were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The assertion that the job cuts will add to Block's profitability and efficiency led investors to jump in and buy, analysts said.

Block's shares gained 5 per cent on Thursday to USD 54.53, before it reported its earnings. They shot up to nearly USD 69 in after-hours trading. The mobile payments services provider reported its fourth quarter gross profit jumped 24 per cent from a year earlier.

"For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

"Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not," he said.

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A global technology company founded in 2009, San Francisco-based Block operates in the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and Japan.

In a post on Twitter, Dorsey outlined various ways the company will support those laid off. For employees overseas, the terms might differ, he said. It was unclear which employees would be laid off where.

Mass layoffs in tech companies

Layoffs by American companies remain at relatively healthy levels, but the job cuts at Block are the latest among thousands announced in recent months. A number of other high-profile companies have announced layoffs recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post.

(With inputs from PTI)