Block $XYZ cut 931 jobs
These were the red flags:
Block $XYZ cut 931 roles, and the numbers speak for themselves.
๐ฉ Turnover spikes tipped this off Q3 2024 and then you had insider selling on top of that. Major red flags.
๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ March 25th ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐.
7.76% of their 12,000 headcount gone.
๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ.
Brutal? Sure.
Smart? Undeniably.
Insider selling and turnover spikes tipped this off.
Post-cull, their revenue per employee hit $2.18M, up from $1.83M, and Adjusted EBITDA per employee soared to $273.8K from $141.9K. Like it or not... thatโs how you play to win - ruthless efficiency, no apologies.
When you stop looking at stock prices and really break it all down Block kept CapEx flat at $153.95M but poured $7.997B into OpEx, up from $7.784B, doubling down on R&D and AI (enter โ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ผ๐ผ๐๐ฒโ). It's a cool name- ngl.
Seriously ya'll... itโs a masterclass in OpEx-CapEx arbitrage - fuel innovation, not infrastructure, and free up $1.17B to buy back shares. It allowed diluted EPS to jump to $4.56 from a really ridiculous $0.02.
๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ? $๐ด๐ฌ๐ฏ๐, ๐๐ฝ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ $๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐.
Fintechs, take notes: efficiency isnโt about warm fuzziesโitโs per-employee impact. Funds are watching.
If your OpEx bets donโt deliver sustainable growth, youโre just lighting cash on fire. There will be MORE layoffs.
Remember- red flags almost always hit before -- for Block it was evident by late November 2024, when insider sales hit $1.4M and 2024 turnover data showed net departures of 57 in Engineering and 53 in HR, aka- a performance purge.
I told my institutional clients to watch for this last Nov 2024, and they were well prepared. Know what you own. Stop watching price. Want full reports - Email me.