It happened on a Tuesday. Without much warning, Jack Dorsey sent out a company-wide email that didn’t even bother with capital letters. He titled it "smaller block." In that short, blunt message, the fintech world learned that Block is laying off 931 employees, a move that lops off about 8% of the company's total workforce.
People were shocked.
📖 Related: LendingClub Bank High Yield Savings Account: Is It Still a Good Deal?
But if you’ve been watching the guy who co-founded Twitter and now runs the Square-Cash App empire, you know Dorsey has been obsessing over "efficiency" for a while. He’s not just trimming fat; he’s trying to rewire how the whole machine works. Honestly, the email felt less like a corporate announcement and more like a manifesto on how to run a "hardcore" tech firm in 2026.
The Raw Numbers Behind the Block Layoffs
Let’s look at the actual math.
When you hear a company is cutting nearly a thousand people, you usually assume it’s because the bank account is running dry. Dorsey says that’s not it. He explicitly told staff this wasn't about hitting a specific financial target or—surprisingly—replacing humans with AI.
Instead, he broke the 931 departures into three very specific buckets:
- Strategy (391 people): These were folks on teams that simply didn't fit the company’s current roadmap anymore.
- Performance (460 people): This is the "tough love" part. Block let go of anyone with a "below" rating or even those who were just "trending" toward one.
- Hierarchy (80 managers): Dorsey is on a mission to flatten the org. He wants fewer bosses. Along with these 80 exits, another 193 managers were told they aren't managers anymore—they’re back to being "individual contributors."
It's a brutal way to do business.
He basically admitted they were "behind in our actions" and decided to rip the Band-Aid off all at once. If you were one of the 748 people looking at an open job listing at Block that morning? Most of those roles vanished instantly, too.
Why Jack Dorsey is Obsessed with a 12,000-Person Cap
Back in late 2023, Dorsey set a weirdly specific goal. He wanted to cap Block’s headcount at 12,000 people. At the time, they had over 13,000.
Most CEOs let headcount fluctuate with growth. Not Jack. He seems to believe that once a company gets too big, it gets "abstract." You lose the "founder energy." You start having meetings about meetings. By forcing the company to stay under 12,000, he’s forcing every department head to justify every single hire.
It’s a "one in, one out" policy for the corporate world.
The Impact on Square and Cash App
You can’t talk about Block laying off 931 employees without talking about the products. Square and Cash App are the bread and butter here. While Cash App has been a monster for growth, the fintech space is getting crowded.
👉 See also: Unemployment Rate for Ohio: What Most People Get Wrong
Competitors are everywhere.
The market has shifted from "growth at all costs" to "profitable growth only." Investors are no longer impressed by high user numbers if the overhead is eating all the profit. By cutting 8% of the staff, Dorsey is signaling to Wall Street that he’s serious about margins. He even mentioned that everyone at the company—including those leaving—has equity, and it’s his job to make that equity worth more.
What This Means for the Tech Talent Market
If you're a software engineer or a product manager, this is a wake-up call.
The "Performance" bucket of these layoffs is the most telling. In the "ZIRP" (Zero Interest Rate Policy) era, tech companies were desperate to hire anyone with a pulse and a GitHub account. Those days are gone. Dorsey’s move to fire people who were simply "trending" toward low performance shows that the "high bar" is back.
The layoffs hit California hard—over 200 of the 931 were in the Golden State—but the ripple effects are global.
📖 Related: 2023 IRS Standard Deduction: Why Your Tax Bill Might Look Different This Year
Actionable Takeaways for Tech Professionals
- Keep your "Individual Contributor" skills sharp. Even if you’re a manager, Dorsey’s move to demote 193 leaders back to the front lines shows that "pure" managers are becoming a luxury many firms won't afford.
- Audit your "Strategy" fit. If you work on an experimental project or a side-bet for a major company, you are at the highest risk during a "refocusing" phase.
- Understand the "Flat Org" trend. We’re seeing this at Meta, we’re seeing it at X, and now we’re seeing it at Block. The "middle management" layer is being squeezed out across the entire industry.
Ultimately, Block is trying to return to its roots as a scrappy, fast-moving startup, even though it’s a multi-billion dollar giant. Whether you can actually "fire" your way back to innovation remains to be seen, but Dorsey is betting the future of his company on it.
If you are looking for your next move in fintech, focus on roles that directly contribute to the "Inner Core" of the business—the parts that actually move the needle on revenue and product speed. The days of "abstraction" are officially over.