Vishal Garg, who laid off 900 in Zoom call shocker, returns as Better.com CEO: reports

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg had apologised for his manner of handling layoffs. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

Vishal Garg, who last month laid off 900 employees of Better.com in a single Zoom call, has returned as the company’s CEO, according to multiple reports.

“As you know, Better’s CEO Vishal Garg has been taking a break from his full-time duties to reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great and work closely with an executive coach,” the company’s board said in an e-mail to employees. The memo was accessed by publications such as CNBC, The New York Times and TechCrunch.

“Vishal will be resuming his full-time duties as CEO. We are confident in Vishal and in the changes he is committed to making to provide the type of leadership, focus and vision that Better needs at this pivotal time,” the e-mail says.

Garg, who founded Better.com in 2016, had apologised for his manner of handling layoffs at the mortgage company after a video of him firing 900 people via a Zoom call went viral on social media. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan was managing the day-to-day decisions of the company and reporting to the board, Vice reported, citing the email.

The CEO had cited the market, performance and productivity as reasons behind the decision to lay off employees in the United States and India.

"If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off," Garg told the staff during the Zoom video call in December. "Your employment here is terminated effective immediately." This is the second round of lay-offs Garg has undertaken, he said.

Better.com said in May it would go public through a merger with blank-check firm Aurora Acquisition Corp, in a deal that valued it at $7.7 billion.

Garg is also the founding partner of One Zero Capital, an investment holding company. At 21, the New York University graduate dropped out of the investment banking analyst program at Morgan Stanley and started private student lender MyRichUncle. It went public in 2005 and was subsequently acquired by Merrill Lynch, which was then acquired by Bank of America.