Block shares jump on better-than-expected first-quarter results
Block Inc logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, April 10, 2023.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Block reported first-quarter earnings after the bell that exceeded analysts’ estimates. The stock rose about 10% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus from LSEG.
- Earnings per share: 85 cents adjusted vs. 72 cents adjusted that was expected
- Revenue: $5.97 billion vs. $5.82 billion expected
Block posted $2.09 billion in gross profit, up 22% from a year ago. Analysts tend to focus on gross profit as a more accurate measurement of the company’s core transactional businesses.
The company reported net income of $472 million, or 74 cents per share, more than quadruple the net income of $98.3 million, or 16 cent per share, a year earlier.
The company raised its adjusted EBITDA forecast for the second quarter to $690 million from $670 million.
Block, formerly known as Square, ended the year with 57 million monthly transacting actives for Cash App in March, up 6% year-over-year. Inflows per transacting active were $1,255, up 11% year over year.
The Cash App business, which is the company’s popular mobile payment platform, reported $1.26 billion in gross profit, a 25% year-over-year jump. Block, run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said its Cash App Card monthly active users increased to 24 million in March.
Block is also more focused on integrating Afterpay, the buy-now, pay-later company it bought for $29 billion in 2021. Afterpay struggled following the deal, posting big losses.
Block has slimmed down operations in recent months. In January, Dorsey reportedly said in a note to staffers that the company had laid off a “large number” of workers. This followed another round of layoffs in December.
Chief financial officer Amrita Ahuja said in a call with CNBC that the company is raising its outlook for the year to reflect its strong performance in the first quarter.
Dorsey’s note to shareholders began by directly addressing a question that he often fields: “Why the hell are you all spending so much time on bitcoin?”
“Less than 3% of company resources are dedicated to bitcoin-related projects,” Dorsey wrote. “But why spend time on bitcoin at all? We believe the world needs an open protocol for money, one that’s not owned or controlled by any single entity.”
Bitcoin, said bitcoin will ultimately help Block “serve more people around the world faster.” He added that going forward, Block will be investing 10% of its gross profit from bitcoin products into purchases of bitcoin for investment.
“We were one of the first public companies to put bitcoin on our balance sheet,” he wrote.
The $220 million the company invested into bitcoin has grown 160% to $573 million as of the end of the first quarter, according to Dorsey.
Federal probe into Block
Cash App remains a significant contributor to overall profitability at the company.
The Block CFO told CNBC that the fintech firm has seen “continued resilience of spend” with not only growth in actives, but also growth in spend per monthly active user on a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis.
“Which shows us again, continued resilience of this customer base and strong engagement with our product,” said Ahuja.
Shares in Block dropped 8% percent on Wednesday after an NBC investigation claimed that U.S. prosecutors were probing the company’s compliance practices based on information leaked to them by a former employee of the company.
“Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors, involving credit card transactions, dollar transfers and bitcoin, were not reported to the government as required,” the NBC story alleged.
The whistleblower reportedly gave the government materials showing breaches in know-your-customer and anti-money laundering rules, as well as evidence indicating that management ignored these lapses.
Unlike past reports of possible wrongdoing at the company, the latest allegations encompass both Cash App and the company’s Square point-of-sale technology. It also includes within its scope international payments, sanctioned nations, and breaches of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. In September, Alyssa Henry stepped down as Square CEO. Dorsey stepped in to fill the role and no successor has been announced.
A separate report in February published by the same NBC reporter found that two whistleblowers had gone to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, to share similar allegations. The popular payment app “had no effective procedure” to establish the identity of its customers, two whistleblowers told officials, according to NBC.
Analysts for Macquarie wrote in a note on Wednesday that should the Federal probe find merit in these claims, they see greater potential for fines or behavioral remedies such as robust oversight teams and infrastructure rather than “something structural like limitations on the types of business it can do.”
Last year, short seller Hindenburg Research levied similar claims, alleging that Block allowed criminal activity to operate with lax controls and “highly” inflates Cash App’s transacting user base, a key metric of performance.
Hindenburg described Block’s internal systems as a “‘Wild West’ approach to compliance.”
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom and Kate Rooney contributed to this report.
On today’s exciting episode of Quick Charge, we don’t even mention “you know who,” focusing instead on EV news from Rivian, Lucid, Nissan, Ford, and what it takes to make a MAN in the heavy truck space. Check it out!
Sure, Nissan is pushing back production estimates on its yet-to-begin-production Nissan LEAF and Ford’s EV sales were down significantly in Q2, but there’s more to the story than the “Faux News” crowd would have you believe. Plus: some new electric success stories from Porsche and a disappointing (but still cool) dive into some new home backup battery tech.
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he 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Battery electric cars sold today in Europe produce 73% less life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars, even when factoring in production, according to new research from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). That’s a big improvement from 2021, when the gap was 59%.
Meanwhile, hybrids and plug-in hybrids haven’t made much progress. The study confirms what clean transportation advocates have been saying for years: If Europe wants to seriously slash emissions from its dirtiest mode of transport – ICE passenger cars, which pump out nearly 75% of the sector’s pollution – it needs to go all-in on battery EVs.
“Battery electric cars in Europe are getting cleaner faster than we expected and outperform all other technologies, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids,” said ICCT researcher Dr. Marta Negri. Credit the continent’s rapid shift to renewables and the higher energy efficiency of EVs.
The makeup of the EU’s power grid is changing fast. By 2025, renewables are expected to generate 56% of Europe’s electricity, up from 38% in 2020. And that’s just the beginning: the share could hit 86% by 2045. Since cars bought today could still be on the road two decades from now, the growing use of clean electricity will only boost EVs’ climate benefits over time.
Gas-powered cars, on the other hand, will stay mostly tied to fossil fuels as the cost and availability of biofuels and e-fuels are still uncertain.
Hybrids and plug-in hybrids only cut lifetime emissions by 20% and 30%, respectively, compared to gas cars. That’s partly because plug-in hybrids tend to run on gas more than expected. So while hybrids aren’t useless, they’re just not good enough if we’re serious about climate goals.
Countering EV myths with hard data
There’s been a lot of noise lately about whether EVs are really that green. The ICCT study takes aim at the bad data and misleading claims floating around, like ignoring how the grid gets cleaner over time or using unrealistic gas mileage figures.
It’s true that manufacturing EVs creates more emissions upfront – about 40% more than making a gas car, mostly due to the battery. But EVs make up for it quickly: that extra emissions load is usually wiped out after about 17,000 km (10,563 miles) of driving, which most drivers hit in a year or two.
“We’ve recently seen auto industry leaders misrepresenting the emissions math on hybrids,” said Dr. Georg Bieker, senior researcher at the ICCT. “But life-cycle analysis is not a choose-your-own-adventure exercise.”
ICCT’s new analysis includes emissions from vehicle and battery production and recycling, fuel and electricity production, and fuel consumption and maintenance. It even adjusts for how the electricity mix will change in the coming years – a key detail when measuring plug-in hybrid performance.
Read more: Volkswagen’s 47% BEV sales jump includes a 24% boost in the US
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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![Here's our closest look at the Kia EV2 caught testing in the Alps [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/07/Kia-EV2-closest-look.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
The EV2 may be Kia’s smallest electric vehicle, but it has a big presence on the road. Kia promises it won’t feel so small when you’re inside, thanks to clever storage and flexible seating. After a prototype was spotted testing in the Alps, we are getting our closest look at the Kia EV2 so far.
Kia EV2 spotted in the Alps offers our closest look yet
Kia first unveiled the Concept EV2 during its 2025 EV Day event (see our recap of the event) in April, a preview of its upcoming entry-level electric SUV.
Despite its small size, Kia claims it will “redefine urban electric mobility” with new innovative features and more. Kia has yet to say exactly how big it will be, but given it will sit below the EV3, it’s expected to be around 4,000 mm (157″) in length. The EV3 is 4,300 mm (169.3″) in length.
Looking at it from the side, it sits much higher than you’d expect, similar to Kia’s larger EV9. During an exclusive event at Milan Design Week in April, Kia gave a sneak peek of the interior.
Kia said the interior is inspired by a “picnic in the city,” or in other words, a retreat from the busy city life. With a flat-floor design and flexible seating, you can quite literally have a picnic in the city.
Although we’ve seen the EV2 out in public testing a few times, a new video provides the closest look at Kia’s upcoming electric SUV.
The video, courtesy of CarSpyMedia, shows an EV2 prototype testing in the Alps with European license plates. There’s also a “Testfahrt” sticker on the back, which translates to “Test Car” in German.
As the prototype drives by, you can get a good look at it from all angles. Like in past sightings, the front features stacked vertical headlights with Kia’s signature Star Map lighting. Even the rear lights appear to be identical to those of the concept.
The interior will feature Kia’s next-gen ccNC (connected car Navigation Cockpit) infotainment system. The setup includes dual 12.3″ instrument clusters and infotainment screens in a curved panoramic display. Depending on the model, it could also include an added 5.3″ climate control screen.
Last month, a crossover coupe-like model was spotted on a car carrier in Korea, hinting at a new variant. The new model featured a design similar to that of the Genesis GV60.
Kia’s CEO, Ho Sung Song, also recently told Autocar that a smaller, more affordable EV was in the works to sit below the EV2. Song said the new EV, priced under €25,000 ($30,000), was “one area we are studying and developing.”
With the EV4 and EV5 launching this year, followed by the EV2 in 2026, it could be closer toward the end of the decade before we see it hit the market. Next-gen EV6 and EV9 models are also due out around then.
The Kia EV2 is set to launch in Europe and other global regions in 2026. Unfortunately, it’s not expected to make the trip to the US.
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