Better.com CEO apologises after laying off 900 workers over Zoom
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has been met with a wave of criticism this week after laying off 900 employees — around 15% of the firm’s workforce — en masse via a Zoom call.
Garg says he is “committed to learning from this situation”
In the call, which has since been leaked online, Garg says: “This isn’t news you’re going to want to hear.
“If you’re part of this call, you’re a part of the unlucky group being laid off. Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately.”
Garg says he takes responsibility for the “challenging decision” to fire hundreds of employees weeks before Christmas, citing staff productivity and market changes.
During the call, US employees were told they would receive a months’ pay and two months’ health coverage, before Garg wished them luck and signed off the call. Employees in India were also affected.
The move was met with widespread negative sentiment. Some of the employees let go turned to the internet, criticising Garg and Better.com on Blind, an anonymous forum and community for verified employees.
Garg has since apologised for the way he handled the mass firing, saying that he “blundered the execution”.
“I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse,” Garg says.
The collective termination occurred just days after the fintech — recently valued at $6.9 billion — received $750 million as part of a Special Purpose Acquisition Company-led (SPAC) public offering deal announced in May.
In April, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank invested $500 million in the commission-free lender.
Following the criticism, Bloomberg reports that Better.com is now delaying its SPAC, which was originally expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
