If I had to guess, I would speculate it was more of a buyout than a layoff. That person probably wanted to leave anyway, and Google just made it easier for them.
If Twitter is anything to go by, I saw one Google engineer with a 20year history find out they got laid off in the same way as anyone else and expressed surprise.
Above a certain age and a certain amount of money in the bank, a lot of people are ready to move on--especially given the right nudge.
And in many cases financially free to do so without blinking. It's a different calculus for sure.
I think a lot of people are way too quick to say that others who have kids in college and possibly expensive hobbies/houses/etc. don't need the money. That said, long-term Google employees should generally be pretty comfortable given relatively sane financial decisions.
someone with 10+ years at google should easily be a multimillionaire.