Indian-American CEO of Better.com Apologises for Firing 900 Staffers Over Zoom

Vishal Garg said, with a straight face, that the last time he fired his employees, he had cried.

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@lucasmelee)

Vishal Garg, an Indian-American CEO of a US-based mortgage company called Better.com, fired 900 employees of the firm over a Zoom call on Wednesday, 8 December, citing market efficiency, performance and productivity as reasons for the decision, CNN reported.

"This isn't news that you're going to want to hear... if you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately," he told his employees.

"This is the second time in my career I'm doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried," he added, albeit in a stoic manner.

Garg, reportedly, apologised after the incident in an email to his current employees, one of whom leaked it on social media.

"I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected, and for their contributions to Better. I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it, I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you," Garg wrote in the email, as reported by Mint.

Garg, however, isn't a stranger to controversy.

In an email he had sent to his employees previously – a copy of which was accessed by Forbes – he had lashed out at them saying, "You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS... SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME."

Indian business tycoon and RPG Enterprises chairperson Harsh Goenka, in a tweet, found fault with the way Garg laid off his employees en masse.

His company works to "improve house mortgaging," and its website states that "the right mortgage could save you thousands." Better.com has, over the years, teamed up with different companies on different projects.

(With inputs from CNN, Mint, and Forbes.)