AI "fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company" - Dorsey

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's technology firm Block (formerly known as Square) is cutting almost half of its workforce in the wake of AI (reducing its headcount by almost 4,000).

Stock price surged by 20%-24% in wake of the announcement, reflecting confidence in the restructuring.

Sidebar - Square is now part of Block's portfolio of products, which include Cash App, Clear Pay and Tidal - the latter which portrays as a premium music streaming service competing with Spotify.

Dorsey predicts more change to companies is on the way - and added "I think most companies are late" (to to the realisation of AI's impact).

Some pundits have accused Dorsey of "AI washing" - using AI as a cover for managerial failures including over-hiring - citing the restructuring of Twitter by Musk as a case in point. Others have pointed to "crypto winter" with Bitcoin losing a quarter of its value since the start of the year.

Block's investor relations website can be found here.  Its stock price history can be found here.

Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as Chief Exec of X

Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of X after a two year tenure which saw the coming together of Elon Musk's xAI with the messaging platform.

Linda has an Italian-American background and has worked substantially in the media industry, starting her career at Turner Entertainment (founded by Ted Turner in 1986 and purchased by Time Warner in 1996).

Twitter Posts its First Profit - A Whopping $91m for Q4 2017

This compares with a loss of $167m from the same period a year ago.

Financial Twitter

In the "Economics and markets" category of our Twitter selection:

Check out PIMCO on Twitter. Also:
Ed Bradford on G-bonds,
StLouis Fed on all things Federal Reserve.
ZeroHedge on various, including Bonds.
Sallie Krawcheck on banking.
Roubini on Economics.
Nick Firoozye from Nomura.

You can also follow some "finance-related" institutions, such as:

NYSE Options (includes the "AMEX" market subsumed by the "NYSE")