Just three months ago, a viral video of CEO Vishal Garg firing 900 workers via Zoom call went trending on the internet. Now sources say the event is about to repeat, with Better.com planning to lay off roughly 4,000 employees in the coming days or maybe even tomorrow, March 9.
TechCrunch reported the details of this incoming lay off. They said that "according to sources familiar with internal happenings at the company," the layoff is something executives had originally planned for the start of March. However, they were forced to move the date because it had been leaked.
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg Lay Off Video
It should be emphasized that just last year, Better.com terminated 9% of its staff. The unfortunate news was announced by the company CEO via Zoom and the video playback of this meeting immediately went viral. The National News posted a quick video highlighting the controversy.
Note that this development led to some of Better.com's top executives resigning. This event also earned the company bad publicity, which undoubtedly affected its sales and performance.
Taking all of these into consideration, it makes sense that the company is planning another layoff to resolve some of its financial crisis.
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Better.com Backlash: 4,000 New Employees Might Be Terminated
According to TechCrunch, the incoming layoff program is expected to directly affect 4,000 Better.com employees.
A majority of the employees to be fired might be taken from the sales and operations roles. Notably, Better.com takes in employees from around the world, including U.S. and India.
Better.com Layoffs and Issues
Better.com was originally valued at $6 billion in 2021, per Insider. This is because the company enjoyed a massive sales increase during the pandemic, where customers were looking for online payment options with low interest rates.
At its peak, Better.com raised $500 million from SoftBank. It eventually earned over $900 million since its inception in 2016.
Unfortunately for involved parties, Better.com was unable to maintain its momentum. So when sales started to drop, the company decided to "build a long-term sustainable and positive culture at Better."
A memo from Insider specified that executives planned to cut down staff numbers so "Better 2.0" will consist of "leaner, meaner, hungrier workforce."
This development brought a lot of pressure to the workers who described the whole situation as "demoralizing."
One worker who managed to maintain their position in Better.com told Insider, "There was absolutely no warning, and in the aftermath, Garg belittled the laid-off workers to the rest of us and told us there would be no second chances from now on."
Insider tried to request Better.com for comment but unfortunately received no reply. So for now, affected parties are recommended to watch out for more updates, which can drop anytime soon.
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