Jack Dorsey this week made good on his promise to conduct layoffs at Block.
The cofounder and CEO who previously ran Twitter told Block staff on Tuesday that the financial-tech company was letting go of "a large number of our teammates," according to a note viewed by Business Insider. This is Block's second layoff in two months, with the company in December laying off 40 people working on the music-streaming app Tidal. While Dorsey did not specify the number of Block employees laid off on Tuesday, a person familiar with the company said the number was close to 1,000.
Dorsey did say that the layoffs focused on Block workers at Cash App, Foundational, and Square. He added that operations overall were "getting leaner."
Last year, Dorsey alluded to further layoffs on the horizon for Block. In previous notes reported by BI, Dorsey said he would put "constraints" on the company's growth because head count had grown more than the company's business. Staffers were told separately that Block would look to reduce head count by about 10%, as BI reported.
A company spokesperson did not deny the number of layoffs but reiterated Block's plans from last year to cap head count at about 12,000 employees, a reduction from the 13,000 workers it had late last year.
While Block's staff was told to expect cuts, along with drastic changes to how performance would be evaluated going forward, in previous notes, Dorsey made it seem as though the process would occur over several months. Laying off about 1,000 people in one day is close to the 10% reduction discussed internally.
"We decided it would be better to do at once rather than arbitrarily space them out, which didn't seem fair to the individuals or to the company," Dorsey said in his Tuesday note. "When we know we need to take an action, we want to take it immediately, rather than let things linger on forever."
The new cuts at Block add to an already heavy year for layoffs in tech. Google and Amazon made significant cuts to head count, while Meta is slimming down in a more roundabout way by eliminating certain job titles and telling affected workers they can reapply.
You can read Dorsey's full note to Block's staff below:
Team,
Today our Cash App, Foundational, and Square teams are parting ways with a large number of our teammates. Following the "constraints" email I sent last year, each team took some time to evaluate themselves through a lens of stronger performance and stricter prioritization. Cash assessed each team's position against Cash App's long-term strategy to determine where reduction, consolidation, or reorganization is needed — Global, Marketing, and Commerce are most affected, however every discipline is getting leaner. Foundational focused on restructuring, centralizing, and reducing layers of management to address redundancies. For Square, the majority of our impacts fall within the Marketing, Creative, and PMM teams, where we've reduced overall budgets so we need to adjust team sizes.Why is so much happening in one single day? All of these teams were confident in the direction they're taking, and were ready to take action within the same 2-3 weeks. We decided it would be better to do 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.
By now our teammates who will be leaving us have been notified, and throughout the day we'll be connecting with those entering a consultation process in countries where it's required.
Are you a Block employee or someone with a tip or insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com or on the secure-messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267. Reach out using a nonwork device.
