Block Plans Another Round of Layoffs
Key Insights
Key insights: Block is planning another round of layoffs that are expected to come in tandem with annual performance reviews.
What’s at Stake
What’s at stake: Jack Dorsey’s payments company has been looking to reduce its staff in a push to reduce costs. Block has laid off employees at the top of the year in 2025 and 2024 following a self-imposed employee cap of 12,000 in November 2023.
Forward Look
Forward look: Block reports its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on Feb. 26 after market close.
Payments fintech Block is planning another round of layoffs as the company continues to push cost-cutting efforts.
The layoffs come in tandem with the company’s annual performance reviews, and affect employees across multiple teams. Block did not provide details on downsizing to American Banker.
The latest round of job cuts marks the third year in a row that Block has undertaken early year layoffs following a self-imposed cap of 12,000 employees it instituted in 2023. Last March, Block cut 931 people, or about 8% of its staff, and in January 2024, laid off approximately 1,000 employers, or roughly 8% of its staff.
As of Dec. 31, 2024, Block had 11,372 full-time employees worldwide with 2,627 full-time employees outside the U.S., according to its latest 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said layoffs through the first nine months of 2025 cost about $79.5 million in severance and other related expenses, according to its third-quarter 10-Q filing.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Vasundhara Govil said that the cuts were likely part of Block’s three-year outlook.
“It would be reasonable to assume that these actions were likely contemplated as part of the three-year outlook laid out by the company at last year’s investor day and are part of an ongoing effort to show more operating leverage while shifting focus to investments in specific areas like sales and marketing,” Govil said in a research note.
Block is still actively hiring, according to its website, which lists 304 open jobs. Those roles span legal, design, finance and accounting, hardware, IT, machine learning and data science, sales and marketing, and product, among others.
Block has been putting an increased focus on achieving Rule of 40 profitability, a key metric that investors look to to gauge the health of software companies. In November of last year, Block beefed up its peer-to-peer network and digital wallet Cash App through a slew of new features designed to entice more consumers from banks.
It also doubled down on its efforts to attract younger consumers with a new teen advisory council aimed at focusing its product development, and opened a new office in Dublin, Ireland, to aid in its European ambitions.
Sources: American Banker
