Bunch of horse…excrements. You are trying to find logical explanation where there is none. My company laid off hundreds of people during corona while knowing the business will recover and receiving incredible amount of money. 5 months after the lay offs they bought bunch of companies and restarted hiring in different locations.
These companies dont know more than you and I. They are acting in panic and in a bad faith towards their employees.
1) we just came out of a very long period of "easy money" that inflated valuations and gave founders/boards a sense that money would always be there
2) when your customers are laying off / reducing spend, your revenues usually go down
3) the future is very uncertain
Take all of these things together and boards are asking teams to be as prudent as possible which unfortunately means, bringing costs down.