Doesn't make sense at all. Maybe they identified a larger pool of employees and then applied random selection algorithm to that pool. No way they are laying off superstars.
They'll settle for commodities, but they want results. "Superstars" are great, because they'll get you results. You don't want to rely on having someone do the work of a whole team, but you certainly won't fire them, even if they cost three times as much as one of the ten people they replace.
