Karma hits back: Indian-origin CEO who fired 900 employees on Zoom call gets sacked as CEO

Years after becoming the face of corporate ruthless mass layoffs for firing more than 900 employees over a four-minute Zoom call, Vishal Garg finds himself on the receiving end of a sudden executive execution.

The Indian-American entrepreneur, who founded the digital mortgage firm Better Home & Finance, was removed from his role as chief executive earlier this month.

The company initially announced on August 3 that Garg and the board had “mutually agreed” to a leadership transition, naming newly joined board member Daniel Lewis as interim CEO. However, the company later clarified that its board — excluding Garg — had voted unanimously to terminate him, citing deep-seated concerns regarding his “judgment, temperament and credibility.”

Garg is not going down quietly. Claiming he was blindsided by a boardroom coup just as the struggling mortgage lender was staging a financial comeback, he is now mounting a aggressive campaign to reclaim his seat.

“He hoodwinked me,” Garg told CNN, directing his anger at Lewis, who had advised him on cost-cutting measures for months before joining Better's board on July 27. “He said he liked the company's strategy. He praised us on X and used that to get on our board and win our confidence.”

Garg alleged that Lewis used that calculated charm offensive to maneuver his way into the top job. “I suspect he always wanted to become CEO,” Garg said, adding that he believes “the board made a mistake.”

The abrupt ouster comes at a critical juncture for Better. After riding a pandemic-era refinancing boom that once pushed its valuation to roughly $8 billion, the company was battered by skyrocketing mortgage rates. Annual sales cratered from $1.5 billion in 2021 down to $70 million in 2023.

However, Garg contends the business was finally turning around, projecting revenues to reach $200 million this year on the back of AI-driven mortgage processing and strategic deals.

“We're winning. We've tripled loan volume. We're close to profitability,” Garg stated. “We were at the 5-yard line after taking the ball all the way down the field from the other side.”

Though stripped of his executive duties, Garg remains on Better's board and insists he holds substantial voting leverage alongside early backers to force a comeback. To spearhead his fight, he has retained high-profile attorney Alex Spiro, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, and issued a formal demand to the board for his immediate reinstatement.

In a dramatic bid to prove his intent, Garg has offered to return and work for a salary of just $1 a year until the company achieves profitability, after which he promises to step aside.

“It's an acknowledgement that I've been doing this for 10 years, but execution hasn't been perfect,” Garg admitted. “I hope it gets resolved. I think the future still remains very bright for Better.”