I thought the same thing. The acquisitions part seems to me to be positive news, and my impression of eBay is that it has become large, slow and bloated.

they are chump-change acquisitions in the grand scope of ebay's market cap

no, no one in the bay area lays off unless the street (stock) demands it.

the psychological impact of layoffs is the antithesis of growth, which all bay area companies are trying to project

if they didn't need to layoff, they would just put the excess headcount on cruise control, like google and yahoo do

Not sure I follow the logic entirely. Are we talking business or fashion shows ?

Yes.