I mean if you’ve been laid off it literally means you’re the person they like the least from the company. Otherwise steve would have been laid off instead.
So it makes sense to not want someone who is the worst in a company.
Nah. Goog just laid off some really spectacular people (in both talent and personality). Examples: Chris diBona and cat Allman. (I don't know cat personally but I do know Chris and he's an incredibly likeable person.)
Both involved in activities that generated Google a boatload of community goodwill but likely not a lot of direct revenue.
That can be true, but it depends on the company. For example, sometimes layoffs are in order of seniority, so if you had the poor fortune of being the most recently hired, you are also first on the chopping block. I think it is probably not quite as black and white as you described.
May as well be shutdown of a department or project, where everyone gets off-boarded. Believe a lot of the recent GOOG reductions included very senior people who just happened to be on low-priority projects.
You are on low-priority projects because you aren't trusted on high-priority projects or have been out-maneuvered for them by other senior team members, or don't have enough political capital to convince others of the importance of your project to make it high-priority.
So it makes sense to not want someone who is the worst in a company.