Animation Lead on Wanderstop! She/Her & Transgenderrific! Past: Radial Games, Gaslamp Games
The vibe I get is that the CEO in question is a narcissist (but I repeat myself) and wants to impose his framing of events on the universe no matter what, to no particular gain. He just cannot be the bad guy in a situation, therefore those studios were not shut down.
my bet is it was to appease any shareholders and whatnot, who keep track of the sort of news outlets that would run him saying "uhh, no, we're not laying off people, haha,"
it feels recently that large companies have forgotten how to conduct business