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Better.com fired 900 workers after getting $750 million from SoftBank

The call terminating the employees reportedly lasted 3 minutes.

Empty cubicles

CEO Vishal Garg claimed on the call that the layoffs were due to efficiency, performance and productivity.

Photo: Bill Varie/Getty Images

Mortgage startup Better.com shed at least 10% of its workforce on Thursday, firing 900 in the U.S. and India.

In a webinar lasting roughly three minutes, one former employee told the Daily Beast, CEO Vishal Garg delivered a short speech informing the company’s U.S.-based employees that they were being fired.

“The market changed, as you know, and we have to move with it in order to survive, so that hopefully we can continue to thrive and deliver on our mission,” Garg said on the call. “This isn’t news that you’re going to want to hear. But ultimately it was my decision and I wanted you to hear from me.”

Garg claimed on the call that the layoffs were due to efficiency, performance and productivity. Once the meeting ended, multiple sources told the Daily Beast that their computers automatically shut down. The company’s entire diversity, equity and inclusion team was reportedly among those let go.

The layoffs come as the company received a $750 million cash injection from its biggest backer, Softbank, ahead of its plans to go public through a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp., giving it $1 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

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