I'm not justifying this, but this is how it happens (as it has happened here at IHG). The company and the board set the bonus rate for the year. The year starts out good, but then goes south in the last quarter. The board looks at the downturn but decides that even though business is off, there are three quarters of good growth preceding it. So, the board decides that the growth quarters outweigh the decline quarters, they will pay out bonuses as promised. I'm sure that happens more often than not. It is the company using money to keep up the morale of the workers.
I know there is alot more to this story, alot of sleazy manipulation here. One company snowed the other, and the government (with our tax dollars) got involved. These companies should have been left alone to fail.