Vishal Garg, the CEO who fired 900 on Zoom, offers to work for $1 a year to reclaim Better after $1.5 billion in losses

Vishal Garg, the former CEO of Better Home & Finance, made headlines by firing 900 employees via Zoom in December 2021. This drastic move came after Better experienced a $1.5 billion loss and its stock price plummeted 90%. Garg was subsequently fired from his position due to these losses and the board's decision to oust him.

Despite his ouster, Garg is now offering to work for $1 a year in order to reclaim the company. He wants five out of eight directors on the board to resign and also wishes for CEO Daniel Lewis to step down so he can take his place as CEO again. Garg claims he has the support of more than 50% of voting shareholders and insists that the company's allegations against him are "bubkus," or nonsense.

Better's board, however, has responded to Garg's demands by filing a complaint with the U.S. Southern District of New York. They claim that Garg does not have sufficient shareholder support to remove directors and that he violated securities laws by spreading misleading statements. The board also criticized Garg's "scorched-earth campaign" to return to power.

Garg's leadership style has been described as volatile, with instances of him calling employees demeaning names. However, he remains optimistic about Better's future, citing the advancements he made in AI mortgage support, such as the launch of Betsy, an AI voice-based loan assistant. He also points to the successful crypto mortgage product they launched in collaboration with Coinbase, which is backed by Fannie Mae.