Better.com CEO apologises after laying off 900 employees via Zoom call
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg told employees over Zoom that the company was laying off 15 per cent of its workers.
PHOTO: Twitter/RealtorJairo
PUBLISHED ONDecember 09, 2021 1:04 AM
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 per cent of its workforce through the video call, said he had "blundered the execution" of communicating the layoffs.
"I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse," Garg said in a letter dated Tuesday (Dec 7).
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 Corp, in a deal that valued it at $7.7 billion.
Earlier this month, the terms were amended to provide Better.com with half of the $1.5 billion committed by SoftBank immediately, instead of waiting till deal close.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners through its online platform.