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March 6, 2026 \u2014 11:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar has defended Block\u2019s decision to slash more than 4000 jobs in the name of artificial intelligence, dismissing suggestions the cuts were driven by years of over-hiring rather than a genuine technological shift.<\/p>\n In an interview with this masthead, Molnar \u2013 who serves as Block\u2019s global head of sales and marketing \u2013 said the layoffs announced by chief executive Jack Dorsey last week<\/a> reflected a structural transformation in how technology companies operate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not about making a decision from a position of weakness,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cIt\u2019s about making a decision from a position of strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Block is the US payments giant behind services such as Square, Cash App and Afterpay, which process payments for individuals and companies.<\/p>\n Its job cuts are among the first of AI-attributed workforce reductions sweeping the technology sector. In Australia alone, WiseTech Global has flagged plans to cut 2000 roles<\/a>, the Commonwealth Bank is deploying AI tools<\/a> to reduce its reliance on offshore contractors, and Atlassian has continued trimming engineering teams. Globally, Salesforce, Amazon, Pinterest and CrowdStrike have all announced significant cuts linked to AI in recent months.<\/p>\n However, the AI justification for the corporate job culling has drawn scepticism: OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has used the term \u201cAI-washed\u201d to describe companies justifying layoffs as driven by AI efficiencies rather than earlier over-hiring. Former Block employee Jason Karsh wrote on X that the announcement was \u201ca workforce correction wearing an AI costume\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018The AI piece is real. What these tools can do now is fundamentally different to where they were even a year ago.\u2019<\/p>\n Nick Molnar<\/p>\n Nick Molnar co-founded Afterpay in 2014 with Anthony Eisen after spotting a generational shift away from credit cards. The company grew into Australia\u2019s most prominent fintech export before being acquired by Dorsey\u2019s Block for $39 billion in 2021, making Molnar the country\u2019s youngest self-made billionaire. He now serves as Block\u2019s global head of sales and marketing.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people that I built Afterpay with from the very early days were unfortunately in the population that\u2019s in consultation [about their jobs being cut] right now,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd none of that comes from anything but immense gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n His comments are the first detailed public remarks from a senior Block executive since Dorsey announced on February 26 that the payments company would reduce its workforce from over 10,000 to fewer than 6000 in one of the largest AI-attributed workforce reductions in corporate history. It was the third round of layoffs at Block in less than three years.<\/p>\n Afterpay insiders say about half of the company\u2019s local workforce of 1300 is being made redundant and most of Block\u2019s Australian communications department is also being laid off.<\/p>\n Related Article One affected employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were dropping their children at daycare when their phone started lighting up with messages from colleagues asking if they had been affected by the job cuts. \u201cTen minutes later, I was still sitting in the daycare car park reading Jack\u2019s email, which was already public, followed by an HR note saying my role was entering consultation,\u201d they said. \u201cMy heart just sank.\u201d<\/p>\n Justifying Block\u2019s massive job cuts, Dorsey cited rapidly improving AI models as the primary driver and predicted most companies would reach the same conclusion within 12 months. Block\u2019s stock surged as much as 24 per cent after it announced the move.<\/p>\n Molnar agreed, saying AI tools had \u201cmeaningfully accelerated in their capabilities, particularly from the end of last year\u201d and that a smaller, flatter team would lead to faster execution and better outcomes for customers.<\/p>\n He said he had been consulted on the decision and took \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for the changes alongside Block\u2019s broader leadership team.<\/p>\n A current Block employee, who was not affected by the cuts, described a different atmosphere among remaining staff. \u201cThere\u2019s a palpable sense of excitement among the people who are still here,\u201d the employee said. \u201cPeople are banding together and realising this is our opportunity to actually be in front of what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n Molnar pushed back on claims that Dorsey was using AI as convenient cover. \u201cJack has been very transparent about the decisions he\u2019s made \u2013 what worked, what didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the AI piece is real. What these tools can do now is fundamentally different to where they were even a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Dorsey, Molnar said, \u201cis one of the best visionaries in the world. Particularly at this time, I think there\u2019s no better leader than Jack to take the company through the transition that we\u2019re all seeing immediately in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a parallel effort has been unfolding across LinkedIn and private Slack channels as senior technology leaders \u2013 several of them Block alumni with Australian roots \u2013 mobilised their networks to find work for displaced colleagues.<\/p>\n Related Article Among those leading the effort is Manik Surtani, Block\u2019s Sydney-based head of open source, who last year helped establish the Agentic AI Foundation alongside OpenAI and Anthropic. Surtani has been collecting details of laid-off staff and referring them into open roles across his network. Tom Adams, a Griffith University graduate who spent six years as head of engineering at Block\u2019s Cash App, has been doing the same.<\/p>\n The \u201cSquare Mafia\u201d \u2013 a private Slack group for Block alumni \u2013 has swelled to nearly 3800 members. Open to anyone who has left Block, the channel has become a clearing house for job referrals, networking and practical advice on severance, equity and healthcare.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a stereotype about tech bro culture being hyper-competitive or transactional,\u201d said the employee affected by the job cuts. \u201cBut this was a rare look under the surface. The way people have shown up, publicly and behind the scenes, has given me hope.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes as the company readies the Australian launch of Square AI, a conversational AI assistant built into the Square platform that goes live on Monday and is free for all local Square sellers. The tool allows merchants to query their sales, staffing and performance data in plain English, and adds external factors such as local weather and events to inform operational decisions.<\/p>\n Molnar said the decision to make the tool free was driven by Square\u2019s core business model: the more payments a business processes, the more revenue Square generates. <\/p>\n Research commissioned by Square and conducted by international polling firm Censuswide found that while 64 per cent of Australian business owners already use AI in some capacity, fewer than half do so regularly. Business owners reported spending an average of 3.34 hours per week on data analysis, time they believe AI could reduce.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not asking businesses to change how they work,\u201d Molnar said. \u201cWe\u2019re giving them a smarter way to understand what\u2019s already happening inside their business.\u201d<\/p>\n The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Afterpay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c22bf84ca99e23ef8ae026e02d2810765f19742d.jpeg\")
Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar has dismissed suggestions AI is being used as a smokescreen for job cuts.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n![\"Natalie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772258355_150_3b6152e9ef4f84e7b5c1ff95e8a9c46e91a1ec44.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Block](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8d94bbe07e44ead825553a8202afd01b322965c6.png\")
Block chief executive Jack Dorsey has cited the rapid progress of AI models to justify the job cuts.AP<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3a9e72903086fd986a69e3436585e7e4e5bb6273.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765876452_771_b3a5e27b67bafef557dc9d266c430580bca7aae2.png\")
David Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 6, 2026 \u2014 11:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-521662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}