Better.com will lay off 50% of its staff this week, according to sources familiar with internal affairs at the company.
The new round of layoffs were first reported on February 18.
Three months have passed since the New York-based startup laid off 9% of its staff, or 900 people, during a call that went viral and caused a number of top executives to resign.
According to sources, the layoff was originally slated for earlier in the month but was moved to March 9 as executives were unhappy with the leaked dates.
Approximately 4,000 people will be affected by the layoffs, which are believed to be impacting the whole company. Better.com has employees in the US and India.
The antics of CEO and co-founder Vishal Garg, which included insulting staff and investors as well as a reported history of verbal abuse, likely played a role in the latest decision. Better.com had to become more of a purchase business or one that helped people with new loans because of the interest market changing. The hit to its reputation has made it more difficult for Better.com to get new customers.
The company's business has been negatively impacted by macroeconomic factors. The original layoffs in December were caused by higher interest rates. Interest rates are going up. It's not helping that inflation is rising.
Almost 5,000 employees will lose their jobs in a matter of months because of this. Garg took a month-long break from the company.
Considering the state of Better.com's business, it would be surprising if the company moved forward with its SPAC. Better.com was reported to be worth $ 6.9 billion last year. It is likely that its valuation is much lower today.
Better.com has raised over $900 million since it was founded in 2016 and $500 million came from SoftBank in an April 2021 round that valued the company at $6 billion. Kevin Ryan, Better.com's CFO, said in an internal email that the company would have $1 billion on its balance sheet by the end of the week.
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Better.com CEO Vishal Garg steps back as employees detail how he ‘led by fear’
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