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Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence.“The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better,” he said.Dorsey’s comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the move were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The assertion that the job cuts will add to Block’s profitability and efficiency led investors to jump in and buy, analysts said.Block’s shares gained 5% Thursday to $54.53, before it reported its earnings. They shot up to nearly $69 in after-hours trading. The mobile payments services provider reported its fourth quarter gross profit jumped 24% from a year earlier.“For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.“Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not,” he said.A global technology company founded in 2009, San Francisco-based Block operates in the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and Japan.In a post on Twitter, Dorsey outlined various ways the company will support those laid off. For employees overseas, the terms might differ, he said.It was unclear which employees would be laid off where.Layoffs by American companies remain at relatively healthy levels, but the job cuts at Block are the latest among thousands announced in recent months.A number of other high-profile companies have announced layoffs recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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Archer Aviation is installing Starlink on its Midnight electric air taxis, the company announced on February 27. The move, an industry first, will bring stable, reliable, and high-speed connectivity to Archer’s vehicles courtesy of Starlinks low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems. Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to access the internet in-flight while also enabling better communication between individual aircraft, pilots, and engineers on the ground to create a more integrated and connected infrastructure. The two companies will also work on developing connectivity technology for Archers future autonomous aircraft, Archer said. Connectivity is a must-have feature for Midnight,” Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer, said in a statement. “Starlink is uniquely built to deliver it.” Connectivity from anywhere Starlink, which is owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has roughly 10 million customers around the world, mostly in North America. Its satellite internet service is popular with customers who live in rural areas without reliable broadband or traditional internet infrastructure. Its also used by various maritime and aviation companies that operate in remote areas on ships, aircraft, and offshore platforms. A new salvo in the flying-taxi wars The partnership gives Archer an edge in the growing race to fill the skies with electric air taxis, which are still largely in the pre-commercial phase. The Federal Aviation Administration has given air taxis a regulatory path to move forward toward commercial operations. As a result, Archer and competitors like Joby Aviation are seen by supporters as being poised for growth in the coming years. Archer teamed with United Airlines last year to create an air taxi network around Manhattan, connecting the areas major and regional airports with vertiports around the city. The company will also serve as the official air taxi of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. That means its Midnight aircraft will shuttle athletes and spectators around Southern California to various events and venues. The air taxis Starlink capabilities will allow passengers to stay connected as they travelif everything goes as planned. Shares of Archer Aviation have been volatile. After seeing numerous spikes throughout 2025, the stock (NYSE: ACHR) was down 9.23% year to date as of February 26.
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E-Commerce
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block Inc, is not only laying off nearly half of the companys workforce, but he wants investors to think hes an AI-focused trailblazer for doing so. In a letter to shareholders on Thursday, Dorsey shared that Blocks workforce is shrinking from over 10,000 people to just below 6,000 people, with some employees entering consultation. Dorsey credits intelligence tools with motivating the change, explaining that these tools and a significantly smaller team will allow the company to be better and do more. Block owns fintech brands such as the Square point-of-sale system, Cash App, and Afterpay, along with the music streaming service Tidal. A familiar story If the idea of laying off employees in favor of leaner operations sounds familiar, dont tell Dorsey that. He frames his announcement to embrace AI and put thousands of people out of a job as a forward-looking decision. I don’t think we’re early to this realization. I think most companies are late, Dorsey states. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes. I’d rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively. Block investors cheer the news All of this came in a letter dedicated to Blocks quarter four of 2025. Dorsey shared that Blocks gross profits doubled from quarter one to four immediately after announcing the layoffs. Shares of Block Inc (NYSE: XYZ) were up more than 20% in premarket trading on Friday in the wake of the news. However, as of Thursday’s close, the stock was down more than 16% year to date. It has been trading far below the high point it had reached during the early COVID era. Dorsey took to X (formerly Twitter, which he cofounded) to share his note to employees, using his standard no-capitals style. In the post, Dorsey says that laid-off employees in the U.S. will receive 20 weeks of salary, plus a week for every year of work. They will also get six months of healthcare, equity vested through the end of May, their corporate devices, and $5,000 to soften the transition. As is typical, employees outside the U.S. will receive different severance based on local (and typically better) requirements. It will likely not come as a great relief to those losing their jobs that, as Dorsey states, We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. He adds that Block wont disappear employees from Slack and email, instead giving them until the vague time of Thursday evening (pacific) to get things in order. Dorsey claims he will send an additional note on Friday to all remaining employees. Reactions to the Block layoffs are pointed Unsurprisingly, many people didnt respond favorably to the news of Blocks layoffs. As we’ve reported before, the key to understanding Jack Dorsey is how much he follows other tech figures and executives that came before him. He used to idolize Steve Jobs. Now he idolizes Elon Musk, New York Times tech reporter Ryan Mac wrote on Bluesky. Many users took issue with the lowercase format that Dorsey used to deliver such important news on X. Imagine you get canned and your CEO posts a tweet about it without any uppercase letters like he’s an early 20s girl, one user responded on X. On Bluesky, another user put it succinctly: This reminds me of the old adage, Never work for Jack Dorsey under any circumstances.
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