Better.com CEO Vishal Garg Apologises After Laying Off 900 Employees via Zoom Call

"I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse," Garg said.

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By Reuters | Updated: 9 December 2021 12:16 IST
Highlights
  • Vishal Garg has come under intense criticism
  • Better.com said in May it would go public through a merger
  • Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners

Garg had cited market, performance, and productivity as reasons behind the decision to lay off employees

Photo Credit: LinkedIn/ Vishal Garg

The chief executive of Better.com apologised for his manner of handling layoffs at the mortgage company after a video of him firing 900 people last week via a Zoom call went viral on social media.

Vishal Garg, who has come under intense criticism after the SoftBank-backed company laid off about 9 percent of its workforce through the video call, said he had "blundered the execution" of communicating the layoffs.

"I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse," Garg said in a letter dated Tuesday.

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The CEO had cited the market, performance, and productivity as reasons behind the decision to lay off employees in the United States and India.

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Better.com said in May it would go public through a merger with blank-check firm Aurora Acquisition, in a deal that valued it at $7.7 billion (roughly Rs. 58,130 crore).

Earlier this month, the terms were amended to provide Better.com with half of the $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 11,320 crore) committed by SoftBank immediately, instead of waiting till deal close.

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Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners through its online platform.

© Thomson Reuters 2021


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Further reading: Vishal Garg, Better com
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