Better CEO Vishal Garg temporarily steps aside following controversy

Embattled Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is temporarily stepping away from running the New York-based mortgage lender following the fallout from its mass layoff via Zoom in early December.

The move was first reported by Vice; Better did not return a request for comment.

Garg's announcement of the layoffs via video call came just one day after Better revised the terms of its merger with special purpose acquisition company Aurora Acquisition to put $750 million immediately on its balance sheet.

The controversy was further exacerbated by the tenor of Garg's comments about some of the exiting employees. Garg reportedly said that about 250 of those laid off had been “stealing from the company” by only working 2 of the 8 hours they logged into the payroll system each day.

In Garg’s absence, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan will run the company on a day-to-day basis. A post-layoff comment about the company now having a "fortress balance sheet" was attributed to Ryan.

Garg's actions were considered as contributing factors to the resignations of three Better marketing and public relations executives — Patrick Lenihan, vice president of communications; Tanya Hayre Gillogley, head of public relations; and Melanie Hahn, head of marketing. It’s not the first time the CEO’s behavior has been called into question. He was previously accused of creating a hostile work environment.

In the days after layoffs, Garg issued a mea culpa, apologizing to the remaining Better employees in an email with the subject line "I am sorry."

He promised in that email more openness in how the company operates. "We are also taking fast steps to make sure we are very transparent and aligned as a company on the goals for 2022, the metrics that matter most, and how we can all work together even better to serve our customers and achieve our mission," Garg wrote.

The upheaval at Better had little impact, if any, on Aurora Acquisition's stock price. Since the start of October, Aurora Acquisition has traded between a low of $9.90 per share and a high of $10, even after all the news since Dec. 2. At midday on Dec. 10, after the news of Garg's stepping aside broke, Aurora Acquisition was at $9.93 per share, up 1 cent from its prior close.