What about "We have the money to pay you but we don't want to anymore"?

No idea about this case. But often it seems they're cutting cost because they think they can, not because they have to.

Employee protection. Just because the management could not balance the sheet is not a good enough reason employees should suffer the consequences. At least in theory.

But if the company is shutting down a whole team without replacement, the employees should still get the option to relocate into another role. They can be let go only after that fails.