Then those would then be short term contractors (common practice and ghoulish tactic to deny full time benefits to full time workers) who have pre-negotiated finite contract terms that end and do not renew. Those people wouldn’t be layoffs.

But these are hundreds/thousands of actual human beings that committed their full labor to this company and likely disrupted their families lives somehow to do that (moving, accepting new vehicle commutes, kids changing schools/daycare, time/safety risk of company travel, etc).

This is not an acceptable way to treat humans. There is no valid business justification beyond incompetence/mismanagement, narcissism and outright cruelty for sport. The C-Suite and boards of directors are genuinely a mental illness. Their complete lack of empathy should be a major area of study.