In a 600-word X post, Jack Dorsey justifies his decision to lay off 40% of Block’s workforce

The all-lowercase public letter to staff elaborates on why Dorsey slashed headcount at the fintech company by thousands—to embrace AI.

[Photos: Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

On Thursday, Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced that his fintech company, which owns Square and Cash App, would be laying off a whopping 40% of its workforce, slashing over 4,000 jobs.  

Despite a “strong year” in 2025, Dorsey—like many of his tech executive peers—believes AI will enable greater efficiency with far fewer workers. “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” he wrote in a letter to shareholders. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better.” 

A number of business leaders have seemingly used AI as a smokescreen for layoffs, but Dorsey has explicitly attributed the job cuts at Block to “intelligence,” which he claims will be “at the core of how the entire company works.” Dorsey attempted to explain his decision in a memo to employees, which he shared publicly on X (also known as Twitter, the company Dorsey once cofounded).

“I had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now,” he wrote. “I chose the latter. 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 has, in fact, been laying off employees in waves this month, according to multiple reports.) 

Dorsey insisted the company would not “just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here,” and that he would host a live video session to thank employees for their work. “I know doing it this way might feel awkward,” he wrote. “I’d rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold.”

Read Dorsey’s post in full below: 

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 being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i’ll be straight about what’s happening, why, and what it means for everyone.

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