Block, formerly known as Square, fell nearly 6% in extended trading on Thursday.
Block Inc, led by Jack Dorsey, said it has slowed hiring and will reduce its investment target for 2022 by $250 million, following a loss in the second quarter due to a drop in bitcoin prices.
Block, formerly known as Square, fell nearly 6% in extended trading on Thursday.
Regulatory barriers to cryptocurrencies, rising interest rates, and the Ukraine crisis have dampened investor appetite for riskier assets, causing bitcoin prices to fall by about 36% in the third quarter.
Block’s bitcoin gross profit – or what the company earns from the spread on buying and selling the cryptocurrency – fell by 24% to $41 million as a result.
Through its online payment service Cash App, Block facilitates bitcoin trades.
“While gross profit trends have been healthy through July,” Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja said on a conference call, revealing plans to slow hiring and investment.
Afterpay, Block’s recently acquired buy-now-pay-later unit, contributed $150 million in gross profit in the quarter, which was split between the company’s Square and Cash App segments. As a result, Cash App’s gross profit increased by 29%.
The net loss attributable to common stockholders was 36 cents per share, down from a profit of 40 cents the previous year.
Excluding one-time items, it earned 18 cents per share, which was slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of 17 cents per share, according to Refinitiv IBES.
The fintech company is valued at nearly 65 times its forward earnings, compared to nearly 22 times at PayPal.
“Block’s unique approach to the market should keep them positioned as a market leader for some time,” Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus Global, a software provider to big-ticket Wall Street clients, said on Tuesday.
