Twice in Two Months: Jack Dorsey’s Block Conducts Another Round of Layoffs

Block Inc., a fintech company co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has laid off some of its employees, making it the second time in two months that the company is cutting down on its workforce.

The cuts are in line with a previous statement by Dorsey, who said that the firm is aiming to reduce its total headcount by 10% by 2024.

More Workforce Slashes at Block

In a note to Block staff on Jan. 30, 2024, as viewed by Business Insider, Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Block, said the workforce slash will affect employees at CashApp, Foundational, and Square – subsidiaries controlled by Block.

Dorsey stated that CashApp, Foundational, and Square each did an assessment to find out which parts of the teams needed to be reduced, restructured, and reorganized.

Although the exact number of workers affected was not stated, Dorsey said in the note that a “large number of our teammates” were laid off. Meanwhile, Business Insider, citing a person familiar with the matter, revealed that Block reportedly let go of nearly 1000 employees.

“We decided it would be better to do it at once rather than arbitrarily space them out, which didn’t seem fair to the individuals or to the company. When we know we need to take an action, we want to take it immediately, rather than let things linger on forever.”

An Absolute Cap

The latest development marks the second time in two months that job cuts have happened across Block, the first time being in December 2023.

Digital music streaming app Tidal, another subsidiary of Block, laid off more than 10% of its employees following a previous announcement by Dorsey in November.

The Block CEO at the time said that the company was planning to put the “absolute cap” on the number of Block workers at 12,000 by the end of 2024, down from over 13,000 recorded by Q3 2023, giving employees the heads up about workforce trimming.

In a letter to shareholders, Dorsey said that the company put a cap on its workers before its initial public offering (IPO), stating that given the success of the move, Block was going to implement the measure once again.

“We are going to do that again now, by creating an absolute cap on the number of people we have at the company, held firm at 12,000 people until we feel the growth of the business has meaningfully outpaced the growth of the company.”