CEO who fired 900 people on Zoom loses own job
It seems the tables have turned: the former CEO who made headlines for laying off 900 employees over Zoom is now trying to reclaim the job he lost.
In a report by CNN, Vishal Garg is seeking to return as CEO of Better Home & Finance after being removed from the position earlier this month.
Garg, who founded the digital mortgage company, was replaced by hedge fund manager Daniel Lewis on Aug. 3. Following this, he has hired attorney Alex Spiro and sent a letter to Better's board asking to be reinstated, saying he has support from shareholders who hold voting power in the company.
The leadership change came after Lewis joined Better's board on July 27.
According to Garg, Lewis had approached him months earlier with ideas on reducing costs and improving the company's path toward profitability. He said he trusted Lewis enough to support his appointment to the board.
"[Lewis’] thoughts about cost savings were good. His ideas about innovation were not. It’s so much easier when we’re this close for someone to come in and say that they could have done better," Garg said.
But only about a week after Lewis joined the board, he was ousted as CEO and Lewis was put in charge.
"I suspect he always wanted to become CEO. The board made a mistake," Garg asserted.
"He hoodwinked me. 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," he added.
He is now pushing to reclaim the position as he argues that Better was finally starting to recover after years of financial difficulties.
The company experienced a major boom during the pandemic, when historically low mortgage rates fueled refinancing. Better's valuation reached roughly $8 billion (P492 billion) at its peak. But when interest rates rose, its refinancing business deteriorated. The company's annual sales fell from around $1.5 billion (P92 billion) in 2021 to approximately $70 million (P4.3 billion) in 2023.
Garg says Better has since begun rebuilding its business, particularly through artificial intelligence. He claims the company has developed AI tools that can speed up mortgage processing and has partnered with companies including Intuit, Coinbase, and OpenAI.
He claimed that the company is now on pace for around $200 million (P12 billion) in sales this year, with loan volume having tripled.
CNN reported that Lewis has not publicly addressed Garg's statements.
The issue comes nearly five years after Garg was caught in a controversy for laying off around 900 employees during a Zoom call in 2021, just weeks before Christmas.
He subsequently took a leave of absence following the controversy before returning as CEO in January 2022.
