Mass layoffs aren’t the same as revisiting a personal budget. They are fairly drastic measures.
To use your analogy, a layoff while revenue is growing is like continuing to get raises at work, but when this years raise isn’t as high as you expected, you start pawning off possessions for the cash. If times were dire, perhaps it makes sense. If you are still making money, it seems more prudent to tamp down on new purchases than to try and take back old ones.
Companies don't use their budget only for profit and not to "buy food", that's a ridiculous assertion. Companies get income, the use it to pay for all the operations that went into making that income, usually mostly salaries. Only what's left over is profit.
And if a company sees that next year, when it expected income of 100m, it instead will only get 80m, that difference has got to affect it somehow.
I think we are confusing derivatives here. No, when my income is growing from year to year, but just growing a little slower, I don't revisit my personal budget. I think these company leaders are seeing the second (or third) derivative starting to go down, and are panicking without actually losing money (base measurement) or revenue (first derivative).
To use your analogy, a layoff while revenue is growing is like continuing to get raises at work, but when this years raise isn’t as high as you expected, you start pawning off possessions for the cash. If times were dire, perhaps it makes sense. If you are still making money, it seems more prudent to tamp down on new purchases than to try and take back old ones.