They clearly laid off staff to help cover the expense of writing out dead inventory. As stupid as that is it's still really dead inventory that desperately needed to be liquidated. They're trying to set a cleaner financial state for the new fiscal year.
I understand that layoffs are sometimes necessary, but this was not one of those times. This was just a band-aid solution for a gaping wound problem and will not last. I'm sad that our "leadership" had to resort to something like this to make themselves look better.