Block

What can we ship today? The world is changing rapidly for sellers, modern earners, and creators so we have to move with intention and fast. Our leadership team on why speed and focus matter for our customers ⬇️

Oh hey 👋

“We have to rethink how companies run, how they're structured, how they're built. It has to be closer to building the company as an intelligence.” There’s a new layer to build. @jack in conversation with @StevenLevy at @WIRED: wired.com/story/jack-dor…

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone. first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay. we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly. i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures. a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers. we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold. to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward. to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow. jack

Our story started with a problem. That problem was a lost sale. Jim McKelvey was unable to sell one of his glass blown art pieces because he couldn't accept a card payment. So he called @jack. The rest is in the conversation: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/squ… 🌭🍾

Open source is a powerful tool to enhance economic empowerment. Freedom of access and use enables more users to access high quality software code and empowers greater innovation through access to tools. It is the backbone of the internet, but remains undervalued and misunderstood. We're releasing a white paper with support from @OpenSourceOrg on treating open source as the critical infrastructure it is. Read it: opensource.block.xyz/blog/open-sour…

We’re using AI in security to safeguard the financial access people depend on. Our CISO James Nettesheim shares with @runpanther our approach to principled risk-taking and how goose, an open-source AI agent, is unlocking faster thread detection to protect the financial access of sellers, individuals, and the modern earner. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=KkUtft…

Our Sales and Marketing Lead @nmolnar reflects on building Afterpay and the next chapter of driving growth at Block with @mrjoeaston on @rampart_news - Leading Afterpay through March 2020 - Building at Block over retiring - Cash App's opportunity to build the bank for the next generation - Making Bitcoin every day money youtube.com/watch?v=op_LMd…

@hey_amandam @techgirl1908 Welcome to the block!

If you’ve talked with me at all about ai... at a meetup, livestream, workshop, or elsewhere, it probably won’t surprise you that I’ve joined @blocks as a Senior Devrel Engineer. I’ve long admired the work and leadership of @techgirl1908, and I’ve been paying close attention to how the devrel team approaches AI enablement. It's opinionated, practical, and real. I’ve also been a long-time fan of @goose_oss. I adopted it early at Apollo because they consistently showed up early with MCP and emerging agentic patterns, and I also just liked using it. When Block donated goose to the Linux Foundation as part of the AAIF, that was huge to me. Keeping goose free and open source while still committing real engineering effort to the product and dev community is a values signal I care about. As for me, I’ll be working on internal AI enablement across developer teams led by @sudo_moot while also supporting the goose OSS team led by @blackgirlbytes. So grateful to be among absolute legends in devrel 🚀 Since a big part of my role is content and education if there’s something you want to understand better around goose, MCP, agent workflows, or how teams are actually implementing AI let me know! This will help me shape content ideas as I continue learning here.

We asked goose for the simple definition of build... Build (verb): - to make something by putting parts together. - to create or develop something over time. - to establish or increase something (like confidence or strength). We asked our leadership team too…

@thekitze @debs_obrien Welcome to the block! Look forward to seeing what you build.

@debs_obrien @blocks eyy congrats!

I’m back ❤️ After a few tough months, a layoff, a lot of learning, and a big pivot deeper into AI… I’m starting a new chapter at @blocks 🚀 I shared a real talk about the journey, what I learned, and what’s next 👇 #ImBack #AI #DevCommunity #TechCareers youtu.be/zaFJ2E70jUo?si…

Money is easier to manage and move when it feels like a language everyone speaks.

We’re bringing undiscovered and independent artists to the front of the listening queue with Tidal Upload…and together in their neighborhood.

How can streaming work better for independent artists? @tyeshafriday from our Comms team chopped it up with If Ever You're Listening about what's shifting for indie artists, the power of community, and why we're building @TIDAL Upload to give artists a new way to directly share their work. Full convo: ifeveryourelistening.substack.com/p/in-conversat…

We're expanding OpenIP to include Bitkey and Proto patents. Our patent pledge is a commitment to use patents defensively, protecting Block and our community from bad actors while enabling good-faith builders to innovate freely. Learn more: block.xyz/inside/block-e…

"Go find out what customers want. Go listen to customers." - Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Block 2009: Jim loses a sale at his glass blowing studio 2026: 4.5 million sellers manage their business with Square We’re now looking for the next generation of product builders for Square’s Associate Product Manager Program. Applications open through Feb 27, 2026: block.xyz/careers/square… Jim shares his advice for week one ⬇️