Block to Lay Off Over 4,000 Workers Amid AI Disruption

News National business Block to cut more than 4,000 jobs amid AI disruption of the workplace Feb. 27, 2026 Updated Fri., Feb. 27, 2026 at 9:39 p.m. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Block and Twitter, speaks on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention, a crypto-currency conference in Miami. (Tribune News Service ) X Email Reddit SMS By Queenie Wong Los Angeles Times Fintech company Block said Thursday that it is cutting more than 4,000 workers or nearly half of its workforce as artificial intelligence disrupts the way people work. The Oakland parent company of payment services Square and Cash App saw its stock surge by more than 23% in after-hours trading after making the layoff announcement. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and head of Block, said in a post on social media site X that the company is not making the decision because the company is in financial trouble. “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 said. Block is the latest tech company to announce massive cuts as employers push workers to use more AI tools to do more with fewer people. Amazon in January said it was laying off 16,000 people as part of an effort to remove layers within the company. Block has laid off workers in previous years. In 2025, Block said it planned to slash 931 jobs, or 8% of its workforce, citing performance and strategic issues but Dorsey said at the time that the company was not trying to replace workers with AI. As tech companies embrace AI tools that can code, generate text and do other tasks, worker anxiety about whether their jobs will be automated have heightened. In his note to employees Dorsey said that he was weighing whether to make cuts gradually throughout months or years but chose to act immediately. “Repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead,” he told workers. “I’d rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome.” Dorsey is also the co-founder of Twitter, which was later renamed to X after billionaire Elon Musk purchased the company in 2022. As of December, Block had 10,205 full-time employees globally, according to the company’s annual report. The company said it plans to reduce its workforce by the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. The company’s gross profit in 2025 reached more than $10 billion, up 17% compared to the previous year. Dorsey said he plans to address employees in a live video session and noted that their emails and Slack will remain open until Thursday evening so they can say goodbye to colleagues. “I know doing it this way might feel awkward,” he said. “I’d rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold.” The Spokesman-Review Newspaper Local journalism is essential. Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible. Meet Our Journalists const data = [ { name: "Jesse Tinsley", text: "Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.", image: "https://thumb.spokesman.com/KTeD_u9oR_dIrsVgqzEhM8bpq3w=/450x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2020/03/25/_JESSE_TINSLEY_NEWSROOM_SCRAPBOOK.jpg" }, { name: "Jim Meehan", text: "Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.", image: "https://thumb.spokesman.com/lagQsl_fbtE61DuLVymh6tn0ZWo=/450x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2020/03/25/MEEHAN2.jpg" }, { name: "Molly Quinn", text: "There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.", image: "https://thumb.spokesman.com/TjCuhGhZwynWZfTnEPsF1PGDa9M=/450x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2020/03/25/MOLLY.jpg" }, { name: "Rob Curley", text: "Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.", image: "https://thumb.spokesman.com/w7lHxcRI2c2d6VYH30R7g0mdgFM=/450x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2020/03/25/ROB.jpg" } ] documen