Right. I think they just want to avoid being on the front-page of startup news sites with a headline like "<company> lays off <n>% of workforce," so they don't

Right. I think they just want to avoid being on the front-page of startup news sites with a headline like "<company> lays off <n>% of workforce," so they don't call it a layoff and try to keep a lid on how many people were let go. Of course, because they can't say that they have to come up with other narratives which wind up sounding disingenuous at best.