Every dollar of cash going out the door each month (payroll, software, rent, all of it) before any revenue is netted against it, so you see the raw size of the engine.
Block's operating expenses ran above $1.6B per quarter through 2022, with gross burn (cash operating spend before revenue) above $600M per quarter even as Cash App and Square brought in record gross profit. The high gross burn was the reason Jack Dorsey announced a 'rigorous cost discipline' framework in early 2024 capping headcount at 12,000.