Huh, hearing about a layoff inside the company I'm working at before I hear rumors from the media would feel strange to me, just given my experience.
Well at Microsoft the CEO does a great job usually announcing major news via email to employees and releasing it for investors publicly at the same time. Not so this time.
I worked at MS for 9 years and rumors always seemed to be a little bit ahead of executive messaging. But I left in 2016, so maybe it was a different time.
Under Satya rumors have always been under control it seems. Not sure whether this was your impression.