Jack Dorsey’s Block lays off staff across Cash App, Square and foundational teams
San Francisco-based payment solutions specialist Block has this week initiated job cuts across its Cash App, Square and foundational teams.
Block looks to reduce staff headcount
Block CEO Jack Dorsey posted a memo to the group’s staff this week – first obtained by Business Insider – confirming that “a large number” of positions from its 13,000-strong headcount would be axed.
Although Dorsey’s latest correspondence does not divulge the exact figure of job losses, sources at Business Insider say around 1,000 positions will be affected by the move, accounting for around 10% of Block’s total headcount.
For Cash App, which facilitates person-to-person money transfers, Dorsey says the cuts are expected to affect its global, marketing and commerce teams, although his memo also states that “every discipline is getting leaner”.
Likewise, Square, the group’s SME payments platform, will have numbers across its marketing, creative and primary markets monitoring (PMM) teams cut, while Block’s foundational department – which is responsible for its core operations – will promote a focus on “restructuring, centralizing, and reducing layers of management to address redundancies”, the memo states.
This move will be actioned with immediate effect, as according to Dorsey, pursuing a phased approach “didn’t seem fair to the individuals or to the company”.
Block gave a strong indication of its plans in its Q3 earnings call last year by announcing a cap of 12,000 on its total headcount by the end of this year. The ball began to roll when November’s earnings call was succeeded by 40 job cuts to its music streaming app Tidal in December.
The call also confirmed a 24% increase in its Q3 revenue, which grew year-on-year (YoY) from $4.52 billion to $5.62 billion, while adjusted EBITDA totalled $477 million. At the same time, Cash App’s revenues climbed 34% to $3.58 billion, while Square’s revenues reached $1.98 billion, a YoY increase of 12%.
Block’s latest action has added to the growing list of tech-based companies to begin cutting jobs, following closely behind PayPal’s recent announcement that it intends to reduce its global headcount by 9% by the end of 2024.
