- Vishal Garg removed as Better.com CEO by board.
- Ousting follows notorious 2021 Zoom mass firing.
- Company faced significant losses, stock plunged under him.
Karma has returned! This time in a more devastating way. Five years after becoming notorious for firing more than 900 employees during a single Zoom call, Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Garg has himself been removed as CEO of Better Home & Finance.
Garg, who founded the digital mortgage company in 2014, was ousted earlier this month after the company’s board unanimously voted to terminate him. According to The Times of India, the board cited concerns over his “judgment, temperament and credibility.” The company has also suffered losses of more than USD 1.5 billion since 2022, while its stock has plunged by more than 90 per cent during Garg’s leadership.
What happened at brutal Zoom Call?
Garg first became a global corporate controversy in December 2021, when he told more than 900 employees on a three-minute Zoom call that they were being laid off, with their employment ending immediately. The mass firing triggered widespread criticism and damaged Better’s reputation.
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Now, however, Garg insists that his removal came just as the company was turning around.
Daniel Lewis, a hedge-fund manager who had joined Better’s board only days earlier, became interim CEO. Garg claims Lewis praised the company’s strategy before joining the board and then helped push for his removal. Garg has described the development as a betrayal and says he was “hoodwinked” by Lewis.
Fortunes have changed dramatically
Better’s fortunes have changed dramatically since its pandemic-era boom. The company was once valued at around USD 8 billion, but its market value has fallen to roughly USD 300 million. Annual sales also dropped from USD 1.5 billion in 2021 to USD 70 million in 2023.
Garg argues that the business is now recovering. He says loan volumes have tripled and that Better is close to profitability, partly because of its growing use of artificial intelligence to speed up mortgage processing. He claims 2026 revenue could reach USD 200 million.
But Garg is not simply walking away.
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He has hired prominent lawyer Alex Spiro and is seeking reinstatement as CEO. He has even offered to return to the company for just USD 1 a year until Better becomes profitable.
Whether the board accepts that offer remains uncertain. For now, the CEO who once became famous for delivering mass layoffs over Zoom is fighting a very different battle, to get his own job back.