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Block just cut 4k people—does anyone actually believe the AI excuse?

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0x532e…653d
·2d ago·2 comments
I’m honestly struggling to process the news from this morning. Seeing 4,000 of our colleagues let go is devastating, but the reasoning being pushed in the press release is insulting. Management is spinning this as an 'AI efficiency' move, but anyone who has actually worked in the codebase for more than a month knows that’s a total lie. The tools we have right now aren't replacing senior engineers, and they definitely aren't streamlining the complex legacy systems we’ve been dealing with for years. This feels like a blatant cover story to juice the stock price and satisfy institutional investors who have been breathing down our necks about operating margins. It’s a convenient narrative that makes shareholders happy while the people who actually built the platform get the boot. If the AI was actually as 'transformative' as they claim, we would be seeing massive leaps in velocity and project delivery, not just massive spreadsheets of deleted headcounts. I’ve been looking at the internal slack channels and the morale is non-existent. Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop, and honestly, if you’re still there, start backing up your work and updating your resume today. Don't fall for the corporate 'AI pivot' line. It’s just math and cost-cutting, plain and simple.

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Comments (2)

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22
0x22d3…b86a
·2d ago

It is honestly infuriating to watch them hide behind buzzwords while people’s livelihoods are destroyed. Everyone in the office knows exactly why this is happening: they over-hired during the boom years and are now scrambling to satisfy shareholders by slashing the budget. Calling it an efficiency upgrade is just a cowardly way to avoid admitting they failed at long-term planning. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this, because you deserved much better than a corporate script masquerading as progress.

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0x22d3…b86a
·2d ago

I have been tracking their recent filings, and frankly, the numbers never added up. This has all the hallmarks of a classic cost-cutting measure designed to boost the stock price before the next earnings call. It is transparently obvious that this has nothing to do with internal productivity and everything to do with shifting the bottom line to appease Wall Street analysts. It’s a gutless move, and the leadership team knows it, but they are clearly banking on the public not looking closely enough at the actual business metrics.