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Highlights
- Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is reportedly taking a leave of absence due to some regrettable events over the last seven days.
- In May, Better.com announced plans to go public by the fourth quarter of this year.
- Vishal Garg had sacked over 900 employees over a Zoom call.
The last month of this year was a rather tumultuous one for Better.com as its chief executive officer (CEO) and founder Vishal Garg fired over 900 employees over a Zoom call.
After sacking the employees, Mr Garg informed the remaining employees that their productivity was under the scanner. Ever since the announcement, the CEO has drawn criticism from across the world and his move is being dubbed as unethical.
Recently, published reports claimed that Vishal Garg is taking a leave of absence due to some regrettable events over the last seven days. The chief executive officer has reportedly apologized for his manner of handling layoffs of over 900 employees.
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Nobody knows when Mr Garg will return to work and chief financial officer Kevin Ryan is expected to manage the day-to-day decisions of Better.com. In addition, Mr Ryan will most likely report to the Board of Directors during this period.
In May, Better.com announced plans to go public by the fourth quarter of this year, however, it seems that the company will have to shift its public debut plans next year.
What you must know about Better.com's public debut plans
Better.com was looking to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The transaction was expected to value the company at around US$ 7 billion.
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The company was supposed to merge with Aurora Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:AURC) and receive US$ 778 million of primary proceeds for the expansion of business operations.
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As part of the SPAC merger, a subsidiary of SoftBank- SB Management Limited had committed US$ 1.5 billion investment in public equity (PIPE) and AURC's sponsor Novator Capital had promised US$ 200 million through PIPE.
Bottom line
Better.com will most likely push back its merger plans as it had reportedly amended the deal a day before the layoffs were announced.
The real estate and mortgage startup will have to seek new approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public.
