Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Thursday what he called “one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company.” The Block layoffs affect over 4,000 employees, reducing the company’s headcount from over 10,000 to just under 6,000 — nearly half the entire workforce at the fintech giant formerly known as Square.
Dorsey shared the news publicly on X in a memo addressed to all Block employees, framing the mass layoffs not as a response to financial trouble but as a strategic bet on artificial intelligence replacing human roles at scale.
we’re making @blocks smaller today. here’s my note to the company.
— jack (@jack) February 26, 2026
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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…
Block Layoffs: “We’re Not in Trouble” — But 4,000 People Are Out
In his internal memo, Jack Dorsey was blunt about Block’s financial health: “Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow, profitability is improving.” The cuts, he explained, are driven by a belief that “intelligence tools paired with smaller and flatter teams are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company.”
Rather than making gradual workforce reductions over the coming months, the Block CEO chose to slash headcount in a single move. His reasoning: “repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead.”
Block’s severance package includes 20 weeks of salary plus one week per year of tenure, equity vested through May 2026, six months of healthcare coverage, corporate devices, and a $5,000 transition stipend. Dorsey also announced that Slack and email channels would remain open through Thursday evening so departing staff could “say goodbye properly” — a detail many online found tone-deaf given the scale of the layoffs.
The Internet Reacts to Jack Dorsey’s Mass Layoffs
The backlash on social media was immediate and fierce. Tech commentator George (@TheGeorgePu) captured the mood in a post that quickly went viral:
4,000 people woke up employed this morning.
— George (@TheGeorgePu) February 27, 2026
Jack Dorsey fired them one by one throughout today.
By market close, he was $2 billion richer.
Nobody called it theft. They called it innovation.
This is 2026.
Developer and entrepreneur Steven Tey added to the growing criticism, with thousands in the tech community denouncing the framing of mass layoffs as visionary leadership:
Jack Dorsey mass-lays off 4,000 workers from Block.
— Steven Tey (@steventey) February 27, 2026
Block stock goes up.
Jack Dorsey’s net worth goes up $2B.
What a world.
Block’s stock price climbed sharply on the news — a pattern that has become grimly familiar across the 2025–2026 wave of AI-justified tech layoffs. Wall Street continues to reward companies that cut headcount aggressively, regardless of the human cost.
AI as Alibi: Why Profitable Companies Are Firing Thousands
Jack Dorsey’s letter reads like a manifesto for the AI-first company — one where headcount is a liability and automation is the only competitive edge. He told the remaining Block employees to “build with me” toward a future “with intelligence at the core of everything we do.”
His vision includes a world where Block customers can “build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces.” But critics and laid-off employees see a darker pattern emerging across Silicon Valley: profitable tech companies using the AI narrative to justify workforce reductions that boost stock prices and executive net worth while displacing thousands of skilled workers.
Whether Jack Dorsey’s bet on AI pays off or becomes a cautionary tale for the tech industry, one thing is certain — the era of AI-justified mass layoffs is no longer a prediction. It’s here, and Block’s 4,000 former employees are its latest casualties.