What really bothers about these layoff is the fact that when business people talk about building a "brand" (an ugly word, but perhaps better than "property") they almost always emphasis a personal connection with the consumer.
WotC has been doing this with Magic for years, and over the last three years has really pushed D&D that way: the Design and Development columns by Mearls, the almost unused R&D Blogs, the convention blogs and video coverage, and the podcast. They made Noonan a major face for the "brand" (I think) because he's a very good RP writer with good ability to convey his enthusiasm in an intelligent and respectful manner. So the layoff looks really bad becuase he's one of the few faces that Wizards has presented to us. They damage their image not only by laying people off before the holidays, but also by laying off people they made the representatives of D&D.
Laying off Tweet makes me think of when the Oilers traded Wayne Gretsky...
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