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Fri, 27 Feb 2026

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 Jack Dorsey's Block cuts thousands of jobs as it embraces AI

The Twitter co-founder says he believes the majority of firms will make similar changes "within the next year."
Block, a technology firm owned by Jack Dorsey, will lay off almost half its workforce (4,000 employees) due to artificial intelligence changes that are "fundamentally changing what it means to build and run a company". According to Dorsey, most companies will make similar structural changes within the next year as AI automation becomes more prevalent. Block's headcount will decrease from 10,000 to less than 6,000. This is the first time Block has cited AI as the reason for layoffs, marking the latest in a series of major job cuts in the tech industry. Amazon laid off 16,000 employees last month, and Meta, Microsoft, and Google have also reduced their workforce due to increased focus on AI investments. Dorsey believes that only more change related to AI capabilities is on the way, stating "I don't think we're early to this realisation... I think most companies are late". Block's financial report showed strong demand for its products, but the company will incur up to $500m in restructuring costs as it pivots to a new strategy. The shares of Block rose by more than 20% after the announcement.