Layoff announcements are reading more like AI-era manifestos

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Technology
Two men in a split screen. The one on the left has a hat. The one on the right has a beard.
Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes (left) and Block CEO Jack Dorsey have written memos announcing layoffs and explaining their visions for their respective companies.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; JoeRaedle/Getty Images

A software CEO called me on the weekend recently with painful predictions. One is already coming true.

Tech Insider : Business
The Atlassian logo on a Formula 1 car
The Atlassian logo on a Formula 1 car

Marcel van Dorst/Reuters

Block employee says the company dangled a 75% pay raise to get her to stay after layoffs — but she decided to quit

Tech Insider : Business
Jack Dorsey Block CEO
Jack Dorsey

Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Salesforce CEO says Block's cuts shouldn't fuel worries of mass layoffs: 'That company has its own unique issues'

Tech Insider : Business
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff onstage at his company's annual Dreamforce in San Francisco, September, 2024.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says up to 50% of his company's work is now being performed by AI. Really?

Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Laid off by Block, reunited on Slack: Inside the 3,800-person 'Square Mafia'

Tech Insider : Business
The Block logo is pictured.
3,807 former Block employees gather in a single Slack channel, the "Square Mafia."

Illustration by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Here is how Block's severance package compares to other tech companies in past layoffs

Tech Insider : Business
Block CEO Jack Dorsey
Block CEO Jack Dorsey.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Inside Block's AI push that ended in pink slips

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey's Block is looking for more senior AI engineering talent amid a 40% workforce reduction at the company.

Marco Bello/AFP via Getty Images

Amazon CEO says many jobs we've 'thrown human beings at' for the last 20-30 years won't need as many humans

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Thos Robinson/Getty Images for The New York Times

Jack Dorsey says Block overhired during COVID, but to blame layoffs on that alone 'misses all the complexity'

Tech Insider : Business
Jack Dorsey creator, co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter and co-founder & CEO of Square speaks on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention.
Jack Dorsey told Block staff that the layoffs were not due to AI.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

I'm a data analyst who survived 3 rounds of layoffs at Block. I saw how AI was automating my work — it cost me my job.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
Ivan Ureña-Valdes
Ivan Ureña-Valdes, a former data analyst at Block, said he suspected AI cuts were coming before losing his job.

Ivan Ureña-Valdes

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