It's likely that people within the organization already knew things weren't going well.
So, the bright side of this is that:
A) employees can spend the entire holiday week or two with their families, and
B) employees can start out their new year unencumbered by the stress of working for a failing company
Personally, I'd rather have it this way than come back from whatever fun holiday adventure I'm on to find out a week later that I'm losing my job... that's a terrible way to start the year's momentum.
Sure, there could be mitigating circumstances, but I've worked for a startup that folded just after Christmas while the office was closed for the holiday, we were all fired by phone.
It sucked.
Spending the holidays with family can be even more stress inducing when you've just learned that you lost your job. No ability to go out with local friends or former coworkers to commiserate about being fired and talk about job prospects. I was too distracted with job searching to really relax and enjoy time with family.
Rumor was that the investors pulled the plug before the end of the year for tax reasons, but I'm skeptical since it took months to sell off assets (physical and virtual) and wind down the business.
I made out pretty well though, got a lucrative contract with the company that bought the core software to keep it running for them until they could merge it into their systems.
I am not sure if even the CEO knew that sufficient venture capital to succeed was unavailable until all avenues had been exhausted. I had a hint that things were not going well when my request for equipment was denied until round B funding was raised.
So, the bright side of this is that:
A) employees can spend the entire holiday week or two with their families, and
B) employees can start out their new year unencumbered by the stress of working for a failing company
Personally, I'd rather have it this way than come back from whatever fun holiday adventure I'm on to find out a week later that I'm losing my job... that's a terrible way to start the year's momentum.