By WSJ staff

Shares of Block are set to have their best day in four years after Co-Founder Jack Dorsey announced a plan to cut nearly half its workforce and restructure the company for the AI future.

The Square and Cash App owner's stock was up more than 19% in premarket trading.

Analysts Friday put faith in Dorsey's plan to lay off 40% of the staff, but said the underlying results also looked good.

BTIG said Cash App's performance was better than expected and that the company's guidance alone would have had the stock popping 10%, even without the layoffs.

Oppenheimer raised its price target to $89 (from $85) and projected better operating margins with 40% fewer salaries to pay. (Block did say the plan would result in an immediate hit to earnings of as much as $500 million)

"Dorsey's continued entrepreneurial innovation should drive premium growth," Oppenheimer wrote.

The stock is set to have its best day since February 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data. But, it's still only climbing back to where it was earlier this year and it remains down more than 75% from its all-time high of $281.81 in August 2021.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2026 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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