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I'm not surprised at all.
Their last major release was in 2006 (correct me if I'm wrong), and ever since losing the Slayers license to Funimation, their downfall was only a matter of time. Granted, they had a few good titles (Grave Of The Fireflies, Animation Runner Kuromi 1 and 2, Revolutionary Girl Utena, DNA2 and the Record Of Lodoss Wars OVA all spring to mind as my favorites). Then again, they also had a number of titles that went nowhere (Patlabor being the most dramatic example of how pleasing the vintage anime fans can also backfire in terms of sales). I thought they should've given the "Otaku Unite" documentary a little more media coverage, but then again, it was a documentary released in 2003 or 2004.
To anyone surprised by CPM's collapse, I point to one CPM industry panel held back in 2007 at an anime con whose name escapes me. By the time the panel was over, John O'Donnel told everyone there that everything on the table (DVD boxed sets included) was theirs for the taking. If the only way to move your stock is by giving it away for free, you're not going to last much longer.
The ones I really feel bad for are the New York-area voice actors who are probably starving for a hit title (excluding Pokemon and Yugi-Oh 5Ds). Hopefully, Funimation will bring their talents to Slayers Revolution (especially Lisa Ortiz, Rachel Lillis and Veronica Taylor).
Still, I have a feeling that Funimation will rescue and re-release Utena eventually (it's on the Funimation channel, after all). Here's hoping they do the same to Grave Of The Fireflies. (I would've mentioned Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, but that's currently owned by AnimeGo.)
And yet, Manga Entertainment is still alive...
Granted I don't own a whole lot of their titles - DNA^2, Agent Aika, World of Narue, and the two Anime Runner Kumori movies are the only CPM titles in my current collection, though I plan on selling the Agent Aika DVDs since I have the remastered version Bandai released last year - nevertheless I'm very sad to see them go. Best wishes to the former CPM employees in their future endeavors.