Another way to think about this is that IBM may be the ones playing up this comparatively-tiny reduction in headcount, because they expect to be rewarded for it

Another way to think about this is that IBM may be the ones playing up this comparatively-tiny reduction in headcount, because they expect to be rewarded for it (share price up). They would have seen the opposite effect from publicizing the cuts of '22, so they did the cuts but didnt talk about it.