First published December 26, 2021.
Vishal Garg, the founder and chief executive of the US online mortgage lender Better.com, became a byword for bad management in December 2021 when he laid off about 900 employees in a single three-minute Zoom call. He was not fired for it. He stepped away for several weeks, returned as CEO in January 2022, and stayed in charge for more than four more years, until the company's board removed him in August 2026.
This is the full timeline, what was said on the call, why it caused such a backlash, and what the episode teaches about handling layoffs.
The Zoom call on 1 December 2021
On Wednesday 1 December 2021, a group of Better.com employees joined a scheduled video webinar. Garg opened by saying he had bad news: the market had changed, and the company was cutting about 15% of its workforce, roughly 900 people, citing market conditions, efficiency and productivity. He told them the decision was his, that it was the second time in his career he had done this, and that he had cried the first time.
Then came the line that went viral: "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."
The call lasted about three minutes. Affected staff were told that details would come from HR by email to their personal addresses. NBC News reported that they were offered about a month's pay and three months of benefits, and one employee said his work laptop shut off right after the call, while the HR email arrived hours later. A recording circulated online within days.
Why the timing made it worse
The layoffs landed weeks before Christmas, and a day after the company had announced a $750 million cash infusion from its backers, including SoftBank. Better was also preparing to go public through a merger with a blank-check company (SPAC) that valued it at around $7 billion. To many viewers, mass layoffs on the same week as a huge cash injection looked less like a struggling company and more like a careless one.
Garg was also reported to have posted on the anonymous workplace app Blind, accusing some of the laid-off employees of "stealing" from colleagues and customers by working only a couple of hours a day. That deepened the anger.
The apology and the leave
A few days later, Garg published an apology on the company's website. "I realize the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry," he wrote, saying he wanted to apologise for the way he had handled the layoffs.
The apology did not end the story. Several senior staff, reportedly including people in the company's marketing and communications teams, left in the following days, and media attention kept building. In mid-December the company announced that Garg would take time off, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Kevin Ryan ran the business day to day in his absence.
It is worth being precise here, because many headlines at the time got it wrong. Garg was not dismissed in December 2021. He took a leave of absence and kept his position.
Back in charge in January 2022
On 18 January 2022, the board told staff by email that Garg was returning. It said an independent review had been carried out, led by Anthony Barkow of the law firm Jenner & Block, and that Garg had used his break to reflect on his leadership and work with an executive coach. The board said it was confident in him and in the changes he had committed to making.
Garg already had a reputation for an abrasive style. In 2020 Forbes published an email in which he told staff they were too slow and compared them to "dumb dolphins" that get caught in nets and eaten by sharks. He had also reportedly been accused, in earlier legal disputes with former business partners, of sending threatening messages, including a threat to set a former partner on fire; those were allegations made in litigation, not findings.
A shrinking company
The December 2021 cuts were only the beginning. As interest rates rose in 2022, the refinancing boom that had fuelled Better's growth collapsed. The company carried out several more rounds of layoffs, and its annual revenue fell from about $1.5 billion in 2021 to about $70 million in 2023, according to figures cited in 2026 coverage. At its pandemic peak it had been valued at around $8 billion. The delayed stock-market listing eventually went ahead in 2023, under the name Better Home & Finance.
By 2026, Garg was presenting a recovery story: AI-driven mortgage tools, partnerships with large technology and finance companies, loan volume he said had tripled, and expected revenue of about $200 million for the year.
The board removes Garg in 2026
The board saw it differently. On 27 July 2026, hedge fund manager Daniel Lewis joined Better's board. On 3 August 2026 he replaced Garg as interim CEO. The company first described the change as mutually agreed, but later reporting said the board's unanimous decision cited concerns about Garg's "judgment, temperament and credibility".
Garg did not accept it quietly. According to Outlook Business and CNN reporting summarised by PhilSTAR Life, he hired the lawyer Alex Spiro, formally asked the board to reinstate him, accused Lewis of winning directors' trust while advising him and then taking his job, and said he had enough shareholder support to regain control. He offered to work for a $1 salary until the company became profitable. He kept his seat on the board. As of mid-August 2026, the dispute had not been resolved.
What the episode teaches about layoffs
The Better.com call is now a standard case study in how not to deliver bad news. A few lessons stand out for managers and for employees:
- Tell people individually where possible. Large layoffs may need group briefings, but people deserve a private conversation about their own job, with someone who can answer questions.
- Have the details ready. Severance terms, benefits, final pay and how to return equipment should be in writing at the moment of notice, not hours later.
- Do not blame the people you are letting go. Public accusations about productivity, after the fact, damage the company's reputation as much as the employees'.
- Know the rules. In the US, the federal WARN Act generally requires larger employers to give 60 days' notice of mass layoffs or plant closures, or pay in lieu; other countries have their own consultation requirements.
- If you are laid off, keep copies of what you are sent, check deadlines for signing any release, and get advice before giving up legal claims.
Garg's story is also a reminder that public outrage rarely decides who runs a company. Boards and shareholders do, and in his case they acted more than four years after the call that made him famous.
Sources: NBC News: Better.com CEO taking time off after Zoom layoffs; Al Jazeera: Better boss apologises for mass-firing 900 workers on Zoom call (8 December 2021); The Real Deal: Better.com CEO returns to role (19 January 2022); Outlook Business: Vishal Garg wants his CEO job back (August 2026); PhilSTAR Life: CEO who fired 900 people on Zoom loses job (August 2026).
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