Jack Dorsey's mea culpa on Block layoffs: 'We overhired'

"Yes we over-hired during COVID. We had built 2 separate company structures (square & cash app) rather than 1. That duplication inflated head count as Block expanded aggressively during the pandemic. Over the past several years, Block also took on significant operational complexity, expanding into lending, banking, and buy-now, pay-later products."

"Block is now targeting more than $2 million in gross profit per employee - roughly four times its pre-COVID efficiency, which remained flat at about $500,000 per person from 2019 through 2024. We have and do run an efficient company... better than most."

Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced sweeping layoffs reducing the company's workforce from over 10,000 to under 6,000 employees. Dorsey acknowledged overhiring during COVID, attributing it partly to maintaining two separate company structures for Square and Cash App rather than one unified structure, a mistake corrected in mid-2024. Beyond structural duplication, Block expanded aggressively into lending, banking, and buy-now-pay-later products, increasing operational complexity. The company now targets over $2 million in gross profit per employee, approximately four times its pre-COVID efficiency of $500,000 per person. Dorsey emphasized Block operates efficiently compared to industry peers and cited AI and smaller teams as driving a new operational approach.

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