Block stock drops amid slowdown as CEO Alyssa Henry steps down

Alyssa Henry, CEO of Square — a unit of Block —  is stepping down from the role next month after nine years at the company amid slowing growth over the past year.

Stock fell on Tuesday after the news broke that Henry will be replaced by co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey, who is currently Block Head and chairperson will take on the additional role of Square Head, according to the group’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Henry has worked at Block for over nine years and provided significant contributions to the Company during that time,” the filing said.

It did not give a reason for Henry’s departure.

“As CEO of Square, Alyssa Henry helped transform the business into a software-led technology company, guided the team during the uncertainty of global pandemic lockdowns, and expanded our breadth of services for small businesses around the world,” a Block spokesperson said.

“Square is what it is today in large part because of Alyssa’s leadership and we wish her the best in her future endeavours,” the statement added.

She shared the news that she would be stepping down and retiring on X (formerly Twitter).

Square recently made headlines when a daylong outage left small business owners unable to take payments or access accounts

“We know you trust us with your business, and these situations add challenges to running your operations. For that, we are truly sorry,” Square wrote in a post on X during the outage.

Cash App, Block’s money transfer app, also experienced an outage at the same time with users unable to send or receive payments.