- 1Square Loans funded $7 billion to merchants in 2025
- 2Year-end report: nonperforming loans were immaterial
- 3Block laid off 40% of staff, more than 4,000 employees, on the strength of AI efficiencies
Square Loans closed 2025 with $7 billion funded to merchants. As in prior periods, repayment was strong enough that, according to Block's year-end report, “the amount of loans that were identified as nonperforming loans was immaterial.”
A value-add, not the main business
Square Loans is the largest originator of online business loans in the country among those tracked in industry rankings, but it is largely a value-add to its parent Block's merchant processing and point-of-sale business.
The layoffs overshadowing it
Block's year-end figures were overshadowed by its announcement that it would cut 40% of its staff, on the basis that AI has unlocked efficiencies that no longer require so large a headcount. The layoffs amounted to more than 4,000 employees in a single day.
CEO Jack Dorsey wrote on X after the announcement: “We’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble.” He said the business is strong, gross profit continues to grow, the company is serving more customers and profitability is improving. But he said something has changed: the intelligence tools Block is building and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, enable a new way of working that is accelerating rapidly.
Source reporting: deBanked.
