The reason they aren't 'firing' or 'terminating' anyone is that they are seeking to avoid the appearance (rightly or wrongly) that the people being impacted are

The reason they aren't 'firing' or 'terminating' anyone is that they are seeking to avoid the appearance (rightly or wrongly) that the people being impacted are at fault. The company is changing direction and that new direction needs fewer people - one should not imagine that those who were impacted were bad at what they were doing (or even that they would be bad at working on the new direction). Instead, we are meant to understand that they made their best effort at how many people they needed and who at the company would best fill those slots. The fact that one person kept a job and another lost theirs has more to do with local realities as Stripe, a particular company, than the marketability or skills of the people impacted.