Layoffs should never be unexpected—at least not without some massive external (or otherwise unpredictable) shock.
It doesn't sound like these layoffs were unexpected to the C-suite. They just didn't want to let people know they were coming, because that would panic people/drop the stock price/make them look bad/etc.
From the point of view of the manager/executive, layoffs should almost always be unexpected to the workforce. You have nothing to gain otherwise and potentially something to lose. Such as morale (contrary to stated 'preference', workers that haven't been fired during a layoff aren't unhappy, and those who were fired no longer matter) and potential sabotage - some subset of to-be-fired workers know they will be fired during a layoff.
Yes, I recognize this view (that corporate policy should be organized for maximum benefit to the corporation, and the actual workers be damned); however, I reject it entirely, because it's inhumane and is part of what is destroying our society.
We need to get past this childish "maximum profit and cut everything else" philosophy and start acting like responsible adults in a society.
In that case I would advice you to read a book about game theory, lest you be cursed to live your life in perpetual confusion about why the world is the way that it is. Cloaking this confusion in "We need to get past this childish philosophy" and "start acting like responsible adults in a society" etc.
It doesn't sound like these layoffs were unexpected to the C-suite. They just didn't want to let people know they were coming, because that would panic people/drop the stock price/make them look bad/etc.