Bumbling Better.com CEO Vishal Garg Tells Employees: ‘We Probably Pissed Away $200 Million’

Lucas NolanApril 8, 2022

Vishal Garg, the embattled CEO of Better.com, recently informed his employees in a leaked video that the company “probably pissed away $200 million,” resulting in layoffs. Garg infamously laid off 900 people via Zoom meeting weeks before Christmas last year.

Breitbart News has previously reported on the digital mortgage company Better.com and its CEO Vishal Garg who infamously laid off 900 employees via Zoom in early December. Garg accused “at least 250” of the fired staffers of “stealing” from the company by working just two hours a day.

Better.com boss Vishal Garg

According to a post on a site called Blind, Garg wrote: “You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while clocking in 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system? They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills. Get educated.”

Now, TechCrunch reports that a video has been leaked showing Garg and company CFO Kevin Ryan addressing the remaining employees right after the layoff of 900 employees. In the video, Garg stated: “Make no mistake, we did also eliminate redundant roles — who might be strong performers but were in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong task, and weren’t mission-critical.”

Garg admits during the video that the company continued to hire new employees while laying off others, stating in a slightly threatening manner: “… It’s because we expect those people to be super productive and add value, and if they don’t we will exit them, too.”

Garg went on to say: “We are going to be leaner, meaner, and hungrier going forward. We will not be spending time trying to raise capital. We will not be spending time focused on what investors think. We will be spending time grinding this business forward in what will likely be a bloodbath in the mortgage industry in the next year or two.”

Garg further admitted that he and the company had handled the firm’s cash poorly and in his words “pissed it away.” Garg further admitted that the firm’s hiring strategy left much to be desired. Garg stated: “Today we acknowledge that we overhired, and hired the wrong people. And in doing that we failed. I failed. I was not disciplined over the past 18 months. We made $250 million last year, and you know what, we probably pissed away $200 million. We probably could have made more money last year and been leaner, meaner and hungrier.”

He also noted that the firm lost $100 million in the previous quarter, stating that he should have laid off staff earlier: “We should’ve done what we did today three months ago … that’s what I’m saying to you right now, it’s what I’ve said to the board before. …You will not be allowed to fail twice. You’ll be encouraged to fail once, but not allowed to fail twice.”