Block just silenced its critics. Five months after slashing 4,000 jobs in February, the payments company released second-quarter results that beat nearly every analyst target, proving that smaller teams paired with AI tools can genuinely move faster.
The numbers tell the story. Gross profit hit $3.17 billion, up 25% year over year and well above Block's own $3.04 billion guidance. Revenue landed at $6.62 billion versus the expected $6.49 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.02 against forecasts of 87 cents. Square's gross payment volume grew 10%, the strongest pace in three years, while Cash App hit 59 million monthly transacting users.
When CEO Jack Dorsey announced the cuts in February, cutting the company from over 10,000 employees to under 6,000, the move split Wall Street instantly. Stock jumped roughly 20% on the announcement, but skeptics erupted. Days before, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had warned about AI washing, companies blaming the technology for cuts they would have made anyway. Block caught fire in that debate. The company faced its own headwinds, including a January ruling letting claims against its board proceed, which fueled doubters' arguments that AI was just cover for deeper restructuring.
This quarter, Block's business lead Owen Jennings told MarketWatch the company shipped more features in the first half of the year than in the same period last year. "We can ship higher-quality products much, much more quickly, and that's because of all the innovation that we've been pushing on as it relates to AI," he said. CFO Amrita Ahuja extended the bullishness beyond one quarter, raising full-year gross profit guidance to $12.51 billion from $12.33 billion, and adjusted earnings per share to $4.02 from $3.85. Cash App gross profit surged 31% to $1.97 billion.
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