GF is not about growing the business. It is about capital extraction from Mubadala and infinitum (although Mubadala has caught on finally) and handing out leadership positions to the IBMers with fat bonus targets. The layoffs targeted experienced technical people because of their higher pay and therefore higher bonuses paid to management based on those. ost savings. At an engineering level, college grads are the safest due to lower pay scale, although they also get hired with enflated titles (which in the rest of the industry would take years and years to get), but at lower pay. The whole place is smoke and mirrors.
This post was originally buried in one of the threads on GF board, @VEYbNCk-1xev . Tend to agree with the original poster.