I think it's just one excuse to reduced its employees, maybe because the company is not really earning as it is supposedly claim. Or probably Jihan is using it to purge the ranks of Bitmain of people who are against him. So nothing to do with bitcoin halving but personal vendetta inside his company.
More than likely, a weak excuse to discard employees and those that are in close connection with Zhan will be the first to be terminated. Though we don't know his real intentions here but it will come later once the dust settles. Jihan should give the fair share to Zhan to avoid further conflict and "war". If he doesn't want Zhan within the company, at least give him his share. Because I think, if the other side is being given unreasonable compensation, then he will not stop the "war" that he's talking about.