Layoffs are about projected profits not past profits.

So the plane has been flying over valleys at record altitude and we see a couple of mountains ahead that we will easily clear. Despite being absolutely no where near crashing, let's throw a couple of crew overboard so that we can continue to climb to new heights and keep the hype engines of our overvaluation going?

There was one time that Kodak made record profits and now they exist in name only.

"Past performance is not indicative of future results"

These pat responses still elude whether future results are contingent upon drastic action. You simply cannot justify all actions by claiming past success is irrelevant.

You can't say it's all that matters either.

Maybe you missed the memo, but corporations are supposed to grow exponentially, for all eternity -- never mind the Laws of Thermodynamics (or any other sanity check, for that matter).

google’s profit not only dropped 34% in the last quarter, it is also the fourth consecutive quarter that their profit as dropped. if they didn’t change anything and just continued on, what do you predict the next 4 quarters would look like? what do you think the comp of those at google will look like taking into account that more than 50-60% of one’s compensation is equity?

and this is just one prominent example.