The Official Story: A 'Distributed' Workforce
The official announcement wasn't that Block was moving to a new city, but that it was moving nowhere and everywhere at once. In early 2022, the company announced it no longer had a designated headquarters, codifying a 'distributed work model'. This policy
gives the vast majority of its thousands of employees the choice to work from home, a corporate office, or a hybrid of the two. On paper, this is a story about flexibility and embracing the post-pandemic future of work. The company stated the policy 'unlocked opportunities to hire and retain talent in more locations'. While Block still maintains significant office space in the Bay Area (including a large presence in Oakland), and other cities, no single building holds the title of 'HQ'. It’s a decentralized approach for a company that champions decentralization.
Following the Money and the Headaches
While the future of work is a great narrative, practical realities were also at play. San Francisco's Mid-Market neighborhood, where Square had its massive 1455 Market Street office, had become a challenging place to operate. More importantly, there was the issue of taxes. CEO Jack Dorsey was a vocal opponent of a 2018 San Francisco ballot measure, Proposition C, that raised taxes on large companies to fund services for the homeless. Dorsey argued the tax structure unfairly burdened financial technology companies. While the company denied that Prop C was the reason for not renewing its main lease, it had previously sued the city over its tax classification, arguing it should be taxed at a lower rate as an 'information services' firm rather than a 'financial services' one. Leaving the city's jurisdiction, or at least decentralizing the workforce, offered a potential escape from these financial and logistical headaches.
The Dorsey Doctrine: Bitcoin and Decentralization
To truly understand Block's strategy, you have to understand its CEO. After resigning from Twitter in late 2021, Jack Dorsey has focused his energy entirely on Block, with a near-religious zeal for one thing: Bitcoin. He sees Bitcoin as the native currency of the internet and has been restructuring Block to support that vision. The company is building everything from self-custody hardware wallets (Bitkey) to its own Bitcoin mining rigs. Dorsey's belief in decentralization isn't just a corporate buzzword; it's a deep-seated ideology. He believes in open protocols and systems that aren't controlled by a central entity. It follows that a company dedicated to building the tools for a decentralized financial world would, and perhaps must, operate as a decentralized entity itself. Running a company without a central headquarters is the ultimate form of practicing what you preach.
The St. Louis Connection
Long before the company ditched its San Francisco headquarters, it was investing heavily in another city: St. Louis, Missouri. Both co-founders, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, are St. Louis natives. What started as a small office in 2015 has grown into a major hub with over a thousand employees. In 2019, Square signed a 15-year lease to take over the historic St. Louis Post-Dispatch building downtown, cementing its long-term commitment. While not an official headquarters, the massive St. Louis presence serves as a powerful counterweight to the company’s Bay Area origins. It embodies the idea that talent exists all over the country and reinforces the 'distributed' model by creating a center of gravity far from Silicon Valley's expensive and competitive environment.
