Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on pre-holiday Zoom call
About 900 real estate company Better.com employees were asked to attend a Zoom call on Wednesday. But rather than offering a holiday message to workers, CEO Vishal Garg delivered a 3-minute speech informing attendees they were "terminated effective immediately."
Videos of the Zoom call have been posted on social media networks and YouTube, with a source familiar with the company verifying the authenticity of the recordings. In the video, Garg sits at a white table, wearing a business-casual outfit of slacks, a shirt and a blue vest, and tells the workers that the "challenging decision" is his and that it's the second time he's had to lay off workers.
"The last time I did it, I cried," Garg confides to the fired employees. "This time, I hope to be stronger." The Zoom call sparks outrage on social media, with professionals on LinkedIn decrying Garg's delivery as being "crass" and criticizing the announcement and its timing, coming just weeks before the holidays. On LinkedIn, fired workers ask for leads on new jobs while also expressing their surprise at the sudden terminations.
Garg says the layoffs impact 15% of the company in the video. Still, according to the person familiar with the company, he misspoke, who said they affect about 9% of its workforce. Officials at Better.com didn't respond to requests for comment.
The layoffs may also have come as a surprise given that Better.com had received $750 million in funding just days before Garg fired the employees. According to TechCrunch, the cash infusion is due to Better.com's plan to go public through a so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company, or SPAC, with a blank-check company known as Aurora and funds provided by investor SoftBank.
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