Layoff news: Jack Dorsey’s Block plans 10% job cuts during performance reviews amid ‘business overhaul’

Twitter co-founder and entrepreneur Jack Dorsey‘s tech company Block Inc. plans to lay off 10% of its workforce during performance reviews, with aim to “overhaul” its business, according to a Bloomberg report on 8 February.

Block has notified hundreds of workers their jobs could be cut during the annual performance reviews, the report said, citing sources. The company employed 11,000 staff as of November-end, it added.

Block did not respond to queries outside of business hours, as per the report.

Overview of Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc

Founded in 2009 as Square, Block has evolved from a payments processor into a broader fintech player, offering peer-to-peer transfers, merchant services, and increasingly, consumer lending.

In July last year, it joined the S&P 500 index, replacing Hess Corp. in the benchmark, following Chevron Corp.’s $53 billion acquisition of the energy producer.

Since 2024, the company has been retooling its business model and staffing, as it reorganised reporting lines and outlined a plan to operate more efficiently, the report said.

Bloomberg added that Block is trying to integrate peer-to-peer payments vehicle Cash App with its merchant-oriented service Square, while also growing other initiatives such as the Bitcoin mining business Proto, and an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Goose.

The company is set to report earnings after the market closes on 26 February. Analysts expect it to report adjusted earnings of $403 million, or 68 cents per share, for the fourth quarter on revenue of $6.25 billion.

Performance-driven layoffs

Earlier in March 2025 too, Dorsey’s Block reportedly cut 931 jobs, which affected employees across its widely used platforms, including Square, CashApp, and Tidal.

According to a Times of India report at the time, Dorsey delivered the news in an internal email to staff and stressed that the moves were not financially motivated, nor are they intended to replace human workers with AI. He said the cuts are part of a strategic effort to streamline operations, improve performance, and reduce managerial layers.

Has the rise of AI claimed more jobs?

Notably, in January, Bloomberg reported that tech and e-commerce giant Amazon is cutting thousands of white-collar roles across divisions, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), the People Experience and Technology unit (human resources), Prime Video and retail. This, sources said, was part of its plan to trim its workforce by 30,000. A Reuter report noted the job cuts were tied to increasing AI use.

During the company’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy told analysts that the cuts were not AI-driven or financially driven, but rather due to “culture”. He added, “You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers”.

In 2025, Jassy said he expected the company’s corporate workforce to reduce as AI efficiencies increase.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)