Tech CEO who sacked employees in a 79-second Zoom call has been fired; tells company board: I want my job back, willing to work for …

​Better Home & Finance fired its CEO Vishal Garg earlier this month. This ended his latest tenure at the mortgage technology company after several years of financial losses. This included a failed refinancing business and efforts to rebuild the company around artificial intelligence (AI). Garg, who became widely known after laying off about 900 employees during a 79-second Zoom call in 2021, is now asking the company’s board to reinstate him as CEO, offering to work for $1 a year until Better returns to profitability, after which he says he would step down.​“It’s an acknowledgement that I’ve been doing this for 10 years, but execution hasn’t been perfect,” Garg said. “I hope it gets resolved. I think the future still remains very bright for Better.”​

Vishal Garg asks Better Home & Finance board to reinstate him

​Garg remains a member of Better’s board and says he has voting support through his Class B shares, which carry special voting powers, along with shares held by a group of early investors. He has retained lawyer Alex Spiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, and recently sent a letter to the board requesting reinstatement, asking it to reverse its August 3 decision.​“It’s not about me,” Garg said. “I care about delivering savings to people and helping them live the American Dream. So when shareholders said, ‘You need to take a back seat,’ I complied.”​Garg acknowledged that the 2021 Zoom layoffs damaged his reputation and said the incident remains associated with his tenure at Better. He described himself as “hard-nosed” while arguing that Lewis had convinced the board he had not pushed the company and its employees hard enough.​

Better board replaced Vishal Garg with Daniel Lewis

​Daniel Lewis, a hedge fund manager, joined Better’s board on July 27 and replaced Garg as CEO a week later. Garg said Lewis approached him about six months earlier with suggestions to reduce costs and improve profitability.​“(Lewis’) thoughts about cost savings were good. His ideas about innovation were not,” Garg argued. “It’s so much easier when we’re this close for someone to come in and say that they could have done better.”​Garg also accused Lewis of concealing his intentions while advising him and seeking a position on the board. “I suspect he always wanted to become CEO,” said Garg. “The board made a mistake.”​Lewis posted on X on August 4, “There was never a $BETR without @vishal_better. That demands respect.”​Better and Lewis did not respond to a request for comment.​The company’s stock has fallen 45% since Lewis became CEO, according to the report. Garg said some investors contacted him after his removal and urged him to return to the CEO role.Garg’s tenure has also included a leave of absence following the 2021 layoffs, a whistleblower lawsuit that was later dropped, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation that did not result in action, and a 2023 SPAC merger after which the company’s stock fell sharply.​