I especially like how Nadella speaks of layoffs as some kind of uncontrollable natural disaster, like a hurricane, caused by no-one in particular. A kind of "God works in mysterious ways".

    > “Microsoft is being recognized and rewarded at levels never seen before,” Nadella wrote. “And yet, at the same time, we’ve undergone layoffs. This is the enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value.”
     
    > Nadella explained the disconnect between thriving financials and layoffs by stating that “progress isn’t linear” and that it is “sometimes dissonant, and always demanding.”

I've read the whole memo and it's actually worse than those excerpts. Nadella doesn't even claim these were low performers:

    > These decisions are among the most difficult we have to make. They affect people we’ve worked alongside, learned from, and shared countless moments with—our colleagues, teammates, and friends.

Ok, so Microsoft is thriving, these were friends and people "we've learned from", but they must go because... uh... "progress isn't linear". Well, thanks Nadella! That explains so much!