Because of a change in direction of the company. People often have skills and ambitions that relate to specific tasks. If the company no longer wants to do those tasks, those people can become redundant.
People are usually flexible enough to switch directions. I wonder how many of those laid off employees would have been happy to do so given the chance?
I would assume such things were considered. You should also wonder how many people weren't fired because they did switch directions. Don't assume you have the entire story.
> ".. two CEO changes in the past 18 months and leadership changes that created competing directions in the business .."
They had several different chefs that all had different ideas about the menu, probably resulting in too many odd dishes, and maybe more cooks than necessary. That might lead to not executing well on the dishes at hand. Refocusing on a few good dishes, and making sure there's not too many cooks, might result in a better dinner. Unfortunately, that may require letting some cooks go.
