Bulletins

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg reportedly called an investor 'an ingrate and a thug'

Vishal Garg reportedly also called Howard Newman "sewage" on the "rocket ship" of his company.

Vishal Garg in a green vest.

Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com.

Photo: Better.com

The tale of Vishal Garg and Better.com keeps getting worse. Garg, CEO of the controversial real estate tech startup, disparaged the company's top investor in an email months prior to firing more than 10% of his staff, Vice reported.

Amid the company's plan to go public through a SPAC merger, Garg reportedly called Howard Newman of the investment firm Pine Brook Capital Partners "sewage" on the "rocket ship" of his company after he and other Pine Brook investors shared their concerns about not going public through a traditional public offering. Along with reportedly calling Newman a "ingrate and a thug" and a "miserable miser," Garg asked him to divest from the company. Pine Brook had owned around 7% of Better.com.

Pine Brook later sued Better.com over the terms of the SPAC in a case that was settled in November. According to Bloomberg, the company has since decided to delay its public debut. The news comes as Garg apologized for the way he handled the company's mass layoffs, which affected 900 people.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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Bulletins