Yeah, I've seen headlines like this pop up for the past few years near Christmas. I think companies just want to cheat their devs out of Christmas bonuses.
heck I was let go just after the financial year but just before yearly bonuses were given out so I worked the full year and did not get it even though they like to list it as compensation. Its one reason when looking I don't take any bonus bs as meaningful. Only actual wage.
I used to work in HR at one of the largest employers in my country. Layoffs, work force adjustments, rescinding of telework, negative things in general are purposefully picked to be given on Fridays or before holidays.
The theory is that by doing so, you minimize risk to the company. If they commit suicide, they do so on the weekend or during the holidays, off of work time and not close enough that a judge would deem it on work time.
Secondly, weekends or just before the holidays supposedly allows employees to seek out support to potentially avoid a risk to the company (like I mentioned above).
Thirdly, weekends or just before the holidays allows a period of time for supposed emotional cooling, which lowers risks to the company of the employee sabotaging their work, undermining anything, or creating security incidents.