TOI Correspondent from Washington: Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Garg, who became a global symbol of ruthless corporate layoffs after firing 900 employees in a three-minute Zoom call just before Christmas in 2021, has himself been ousted as chief executive of Better Home & Finance.Garg’s removal came in early August when Daniel Lewis, a hedge-fund manager who had joined Better’s board only a week earlier, became interim CEO. Better’s board said directors other than Garg had unanimously voted to terminate him, citing concerns about his “judgment, temperament and credibility.” The company also pointed to losses exceeding $1.5 billion since 2022 and a more than 90% decline in its stock price during his leadership.The ouster is the latest twist in the extraordinary corporate saga of Garg, who founded Better after becoming frustrated with the traditional mortgage process. Born in India and raised in New York, Garg graduated from Stuyvesant High School and New York University’s Stern School of Business. He previously co-founded online student lender MyRichUncle and founded Better in 2014.But it was his treatment of employees that made him internationally notorious. In December 2021, Garg abruptly told more than 900 workers on a Zoom call that they were being laid off, saying their employment was terminated “effective immediately.” He subsequently took a leave of absence amid the uproar before returning as CEO.Five years later, Garg acknowledges that episode badly damaged Better’s reputation. Yet he insists that he was removed just as the company was approaching a turnaround. “We’re winning. We’ve tripled loan volume. We’re close to profitability,” he asserted in a CNN interview, describing Better as being at the “5-yard line” after rebuilding the business. He also said he felt “hoodwinked” by Lewis, complaining, “He said he liked the company’s strategy. He praised us on X and used that to get on our board and win our confidences.”The company, once valued at about $8 billion during the pandemic refinancing boom, now has a market value of roughly $300 million. Annual sales plunged from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $70 million in 2023, although Garg says 2026 revenue is on track to reach $200 million. Better has increasingly bet on AI to automate mortgage processing and has expanded into home-equity lending.Garg is not accepting his dismissal quietly, hiring a prominent law firm to regain the CEO position, and offering to work for $1 a year until Better returns to profitability. He says he has backing from shareholders holding shares with special voting powers.“It’s an acknowledgment that I’ve been doing this for 10 years, but execution hasn’t been perfect,” he conceded to CNN, adding, “I hope it gets resolved. I think the future still remains very bright for Better.”
