The advice I've heard for giving bad news is that you should come directly to the point and explain clearly. I doubt the people listening care how hard this may be for the CEO.
That said, I don't know how better people would feel even if this news was adroitly delivered.
C suites tend to want to personalize messages by adding context to how they feel, but in cases of such severely negative news it's always going to come off badly. "Firing people hurts my feelings" is a moot point unless you've slashed your and the rest of leadership's paychecks.
I'm mixed on the method of putting a bunch of people in a meeting and the CEO telling them directly they're being laid off. In some ways, I think it's much better than slowly pulling employees in and letting them know 1:1. In those cases, word about the layoffs travel much quicker than the layoffs, and people will spend all day with dread about whether they are laid off or not.
That said, I don't know how better people would feel even if this news was adroitly delivered.