Block Inc., Owned By Jack Dorsey, Lays Off More Than 1,000 Employees

Jack Dorsey, reportedly has laid off more than 1,000 Block Inc staff. (photo: x @DeItaone ·)

JAKARFTA - Financial payment processing company Block Inc., founded by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, has reportedly laid off more than 1,000 staff.

According to a Business Insider report on January 30, Block fired "a large number of co-workers" in one day to simplify operations at the financial company. These layoffs affected staff in the Cash App, Foundational, and Square Block divisions, affecting about 10% of the company's total employees.

"We decided it was better to do it at once than carelessly, which is unfair to individuals or companies," Dorsey said in a note to Block staff. "When we found out we needed to take action, we wanted to do it immediately, rather than let things drag on forever."

Several former Block employees who have now been laid off posted farewell messages on LinkedIn.

"I was shocked? Not completely - the company told us late last year that cuts were going to happen - but I certainly wish the best so that my team and I don't become victims. Unfortunately, cuts have come to call," said Shayna Bulluck, who has worked as an internal mobility manager at the company since March 2023.

The staff cut comes about two months after Block announced plans to launch its own security Bitcoin wallet. The company reported revenues of 5.62 billion US Dollars (Rp 88.6 trillion) for the third quarter of 2023, with a profit of 44 million US dollars (Rp 696.7 billion) from its Bitcoin assets.

In the past three months, several major US companies have announced similar cuts as part of efforts to reduce costs, including asset manager BlackRock, livestreaming platform Twitch, and PayPal.