Block, the parent company of Cash App and Square, announced Thursday it will be laying off more than 4,000 employees — a move that sent the company’s stock up 25% in after-hours trading.

For most companies, laying off nearly half the workforce would send stockholders into a panic, tanking the stock within minutes of the announcement. But in 2026, investors in Block appear to have the opposite perspective — viewing humans as a liability in the modern economy, thanks in large part to the AI revolution.

Block CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement on X that the layoffs did not happen “because we’re in trouble,” but rather because “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 [sic]. and that’s accelerating rapidly,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey viewed job cuts resulting from AI implementation as inevitable and chose to rip off the band-aid.

“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 [sic]. i chose the latter,” Dorsey said. “repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead [sic].”

The layoffs are part of a broader shakeout in tech, where companies including Salesforce, CrowdStrike, Pinterest, and Chegg are shedding workers as AI absorbs key functions.

In a letter to shareholders, Dorsey predicted that, within the next year, “the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.”

Block’s Q4 numbers were otherwise in the green, with gross profit increasing 24% year-over-year. Block CFO Amrita Ahuja told investors that the cuts are necessary “for our next phase of long-term growth.”

“We are choosing to shift how we operate at a time when our business is accelerating and we see an opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work,” Ahuja said.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) admitted during a Wednesday interview that Vice President JD Vance “scares” him as the potential heir apparent to helm the Make America Great Again movement going into the 2028 presidential election.

Newsom voiced his concerns to former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on MS NOW, calling Secretary of State Marco Rubio “a complete fraud” and telling her that Vance, in particular, worried him “almost more than” President Donald Trump.

WATCH:

Marco Rubio is a complete fraud. But no one tops JD Vance. Talk about a guy who put a mask on his face and grew into it. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/fNbTEYJY4z

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 26, 2026

“There are some people waiting in the wings in the MAGA world who would love to be the chosen ones of the Trump orbit,” Psaki began, adding, “JD Vance is one of them. Marco Rubio is one of them. Do you think they can carry on the MAGA flame here?”

“No. But Vance, for whatever reason, scares me,” Newsom volunteered.

“Why?” Psaki pressed.

“Almost more than Trump. I don’t know. I just — I mean, talk about a guy who put a mask on and his face grew into it,” Newsom said, complaining that Vance and Rubio — as well as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — had been “effective” critics of Trump before coming around to his way of thinking.

“What frauds, what phonies. But JD is a unique fraud and phony. And he’s a little more dangerous. And — and the folks around him, these are not folks that believe — I mean, listen to some of its biggest funders, the way they talk. There’s a nihilism to the way they talk about the world,” Newsom continued, adding, “I know these guys. I literally know them, not figuratively know them. Some of them are in the book, knew them back when.”

“So, again, I don’t want to be overly hyperbolic about this,” Newsom said, just as he pivoted to be more hyperbolic: “So [Trump’s] going to try to run this out until right after the end, until he can pick and choose who goes behind him. Or, God forbid, we don’t take back the House of Representatives, he may be on that ballot.”

Psaki agreed, “He’ll try.”

“I just wouldn’t put it past him,” said Newsom.

Trump has repeatedly said that he will not seek a third term in the White House, and has demurred when asked who he might want to see replace him. Touting the skills of both Vance and Rubio, Trump has only said that either would be a good choice.