With the sports example... the company "laying off a team" may actually be able to expect a payment in exchange for facilitating the transfer of their well-asse

With the sports example... the company "laying off a team" may actually be able to expect a payment in exchange for facilitating the transfer of their well-assembled, functional team to another company. It's entirely possible that wouldn't actually be a bad outcome for everyone involved: - Source company which is financially strained gets some income in addition to reduced salary expenses. - Destination company saves on paying other recruiting costs and acquires a pre-assembled team. They're essentially buying a working unit instead of having to build their own. - Employees avoid the uncertainty of being dropped in the middle of the process (or summarily laid off), assuming the right protections were in place in the agreement.