Saying that would be a much more reasonable layoff announcement. "Shit is good. But not that good. If we don't change course now, things may be less than good."

If that's what they actually believe, they could just say it.

They don't because optics are more important than honesty. Can't spook would be investors. Must control the market's narrative about the viability and growth-trajectory of your company at all times. It's tiring.

We like to point this out - but it's very rarely the actual stakes on the table. It's just something we point to to justify layoffs. It's very rare that the thing standing between a business existing and not being able to exist is a round of layoffs. We almost always do layoffs to make more profit, not to save ourselves existentially (which are two related-but-different things, as much as some of us would like to pretend that they are the same thing).

Not really. Investors want profits yes, but value is based on largely on expectations of growth. Declining revenue is not a sign of a healthy, valuable company.