Better.com CEO Fires 900 Workers On Zoom Video Call: ‘You’re The Unlucky Group’

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg fired more than 900 employees in a recent Zoom webinar, calling the axed workers “part of the unlucky group.” The mortgage company has since drawn flak from social media users who believe the layoffs were unfair.

In a recording viewed by CNN Business, Garg can be heard saying in the Wednesday Zoom call that employees on the call “are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off.” Garg added that “your employment here is terminated effective immediately.” Garg also told the fired employees that “the market has changed, as you know, and we have to move with it in order to survive.”

Sources with knowledge of the situation told TechCrunch that the digital mortgage lender has “too many people in the wrong places.” The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that the mortgage market is expected to contract significantly after lower interest rates during the pandemic drove rapid expansion. Furthermore, it is expected that technology will continue replacing human labor in the digital mortgage sector.

In a statement to SFGate, Better.com’s Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan said that it was “gut wrenching” to conduct the layoffs but “a fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving homeownership market.”

Ryan has also clarified that only 9% of its workforce, or about 900 workers, have been laid off, instead of the 15% that Garg said in the Zoom call.

The incident has drawn backlash from Twitter users who got wind of the news. Forbes reported that it is “standard company” practice to hold off announcing bad news such as mass layoffs during the holiday seasons so staff can enjoy the holidays with their loved ones. The magazine also reported that Better.com recently received a $750 million infusion, which has raised questions about why the company didn’t hold off laying off workers until after analyzing the results of the capital injection.

One Twitter user said the CEO of a company has “done such a horrible job” and is left with no choice but to fire 15% of its workforce. “You’ve failed and should be part of the layoff,” the user stated.

Another user acknowledged the “business reality” of layoffs, but argued that “I can’t really think of a more disrespectful way to announce it than Better did.” Another Twitter user also noted that laying off workers as the holidays near and after the infusion “is the opposite of leadership.”

Better.com has offices in North Carolina, California, and Texas. The company has yet to make its public market debut.