CEO Lays off 900 Employees in Shocking Video Call Better.com has let go of 9% of its workforce.
By Emily Rella Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Bah humbug!
Spirits were not so bright over at Better.com when CEO Vishal Garg laid off 900 employees in a Zoom meeting.
The leaked video footage shows Garg saying that the company will be letting go of 15% of its workforce, though it was later clarified that the layoffs accounted for 9% of employees.
"The market has changed, as you know, and we have to move with it in order to survive," he said. "This isn't news you're gonna wanna hear, but ultimately it was my decision, and I wanted you to hear it from me. It's been a really, really challenging decision to make."
Garg told employees that this is the second time in his career that he's had to deliver mass layoffs and said that he hoped we wouldn't cry during the process this time around.
"If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off," Garg explained in the video. "Your employment here is terminated effective immediately."
The woman videotaping the call can be heard crying and pleading to the screen.
"This is not real," she heartbreakingly says. "After everything we did."
Better.com is a digital mortgage and loan website that launched in 2016.
The website is currently down, with a note that says it is "doing a little home improvement."
Reports state that the company is valued at $7 billion after receiving a $750 million "cash infusion" just days ago.
This latest move is not Garg's first bout with scandal at the company.
In an email last November obtained by Forbes, the CEO seemed to verbally abuse employees by calling them dumb and slow.
"You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS and…DUMB DOLPHINS get caught in nets and eaten by sharks," the email said. "SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME."
Better.com currently has main offices in California, North Carolina and Texas.
