Salesforce CEO takes swipe at Jack Dorsey's Block after mass layoffs

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has pushed backmost against the thought that Block's monolithic layoffs awesome an AI-driven jobs apocalypse, suggesting Jack Dorsey's fintech elephantine has company-specific problems that don't bespeak the broader market.

"Obviously, that institution has its ain unsocial issues. We each cognize that, truthful let's enactment that aside," Benioff told CNBC connected Wednesday. "These pronouncements of these wide white-collar layoffs: I conscionable bash not spot it."His comments came days aft Dorsey announced plans to chopped astir 4,000 employees—roughly 40% of Block's workforce—citing accelerated advances successful AI tools arsenic the driving force. Block's banal surged implicit 20% pursuing the announcement, with investors cheering the cost-cutting determination adjacent arsenic employees reeled from the standard of it.

Benioff argues AI tin boost productivity without triggering sweeping occupation cuts

Benioff said helium believes AI tin thrust ratio gains without the benignant of wholesale restructuring Dorsey carried out. He pointed to Salesforce's ain results—12% maturation astatine scale, approaching $50 cardinal successful revenue—as grounds that companies tin integrate AI without gutting their headcount.That said, Benioff isn't precisely cleanable connected the layoffs beforehand himself. Salesforce chopped astir 4,000 roles past year, including successful lawsuit support, aft AI tools reduced the request for quality agents.

The institution conducted different circular of cuts successful February affecting less than 1,000 employees. But Benioff framed those arsenic targeted ratio moves, not a broad restructuring.

Block's headcount ballooned during the pandemic—and skeptics accidental that's the existent story

Block's concern looks different. The institution grew from 4,000 employees successful 2019 to astir 13,000 by extremity of 2023 during a pandemic-era hiring spree. It had already gone done aggregate rounds of layoffs successful 2024 and 2025 earlier Dorsey announced the latest 40% cut.Former employees and Wall Street analysts person questioned whether AI was genuinely the catalyst—or conscionable a convenient communicative for trimming years of organisational bloat. Mizuho Americas expert Dan Dolev was blunt: "The immense bulk of these cuts were astir apt not owed to AI."Former Block worker Jason Karsh enactment it much colourfully connected X: "This isn't an AI story. It's organisational bloat wearing an AI costume."Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, meanwhile, took a mediate way erstwhile asked astir the Block cuts. He said helium hadn't "really digested" the specifics but acknowledged AI would trim headcount crossed industries—while insisting caller roles would yet emerge, arsenic they person with each large tech shift.