Did the message arrive in a pretty musical Christmas card to soften the blow?
As anyone who is employed knows, when redundancies are made, when businesses close down, Christmas is the prime time for this to happen.
Of course Meg Whitman the CEO will have a fabulous Christmas and I doubt that while chewing her way through her organic hand reared turkey on Christmas Day she will spare a thought for those whose Christmas has now been spoiled by anxiety and stress over the possibility of losing their jobs.