Block cuts 8% of staff; Western Union leans into AI

Jack Dorsey's Block Layoffs

Jack Dorsey's Block laid off 931 people as part of a wider initiative to slim down the company. The staff reductions were first reported by TechCrunch. The staffing cuts amount to about 8% of the payment company's global workforce. As of Dec. 31, Block had 11,372 full-time employees worldwide with 2,627 full-time employees outside the U.S., according to the company's most recent 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Block did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

In a letter sent to employees, Dorsey said the cuts were focused on three areas: reducing teams that were "off strategy," parting ways with people who had or were trending toward a "below" average performance rating, and middle managers. Almost 400 people were eliminated for strategy reasons; 460 people were eliminated for performance reasons, and 80 managers were cut, according to the letter. Nearly 200 managers were moved to individual contributor roles, the letter said.

Block also closed 748 roles it had sought to hire for with the exception of roles that progressed to the offer stage, as well as critical operation and key leadership roles, Dorsey said. Dorsey stressed that the reduction in headcount was not aimed at hitting any specific financial targets or replacing workers with artificial intelligence. "They are specific to our needs around strategy, raising the bar and acting faster on performance, and flattening our org so we can move faster and with less abstraction," Dorsey said in the letter.

Western Union and AI

Western Union has partnered with HCLTech to set up a new technology center in India to transition the money-transfer company to an artificial intelligence-focused platform operating model. A platform operating model is "a way of organizing and working that brings together funding, people, and assets to create 'platforms' that deliver shared products and services across the enterprise," according to Boston Consulting Group. Western Union will use two of HCL's AI-powered products as well as some of the global technology company's digital and cloud-based solutions to help with the transition.

The technology center will be located in Hyderabad, India, according to a Western Union release. Companies that adopt a platform operating model have reported a two- to fourfold reduction in time to market and cost savings between 15% and 20%, according to BCG. Employee satisfaction ratings also came in at 90% or more following transitions to a platform operating model.

Marqeta Diversification Strategy

Payment card firm Marqeta signed a collaboration agreement with Upside, a digital marketplace that connects consumers with marketing incentives such as cash-back offers. Upside has about 100,000 retailers in its network, which use Upside to attract new consumers and expand relationships with repeat shoppers. Marqeta, supporting card technology for merchant clients, will use Upside's service in an effort to upsell marketing services to help merchants reach "top of wallet" status among their consumers.

Marqeta has been adding products and partners in recent years to diversify its revenue sources beyond Block, which has traditionally made up a large portion of Marqeta's business.

Westpac's SafeBlock Feature

Westpac plans to introduce SafeBlock, a feature that enables users to block accounts and payment cards instantly through the bank's website or mobile app. The bank attributed the product to research from Australia's National Anti-Scam Centre, which found consumers lost more than 2 billion Australian dollars in 2024, or about $1.3 billion, to scams. "From experience, we know that scammers strike when we are at our busiest, often catching out unsuspecting customers," Carolyn McCann, Westpac's group executive of customer and corporate services, said in a release.

SafeBlock will be added in the coming months. It's the latest of a series of security products that Westpac has debuted in the past year covering payment processing and identity verification.

Monzo's Split App

U.K. fintech Monzo has developed Monzo Split app to organize group expenses such as shared tides, household bills, group trips and restaurant bills. Individual users can create what Monzo called "splits" and invite others to join. The split members can then add expenses from different accounts and cards and send reminders. Participants can make payments for their share directly to the app from whatever account they are using.

Monzo's pitching Split as a way to automate a complicated set of transactions while avoiding awkward conversations. Payment companies for years have used the idea of pooling a group expense as a way of building use of more general digital payment apps.