Vishal Garg, the founder who became infamous for firing about 900 workers over a Zoom call shortly before the 2021 holiday season, is fighting to reclaim the company he built. Garg says he has secured signed declarations from investors representing a majority of Better Home & Finance's voting power, and he wants five of the company's eight board members to resign so he can retake the chief executive seat he lost earlier this month.
Garg's escalation, announced August 13, includes retaining high-profile defense attorney Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, according to a release detailed by GlobeNewswire. He sent a letter to the board demanding directors step down voluntarily or face a forced special meeting or written consent process. Garg, who held the chief executive position for much of the company's history before a temporary leave of absence following the 2021 layoffs and subsequent return, argues the board made the wrong decision when it removed him.
As Cleveland.com reports, Garg contends Better Home & Finance was on the verge of financial recovery when the board replaced him, and he maintains the company's long-term outlook remains strong. Garg says Daniel Lewis, the interim CEO who replaced him, gained the confidence of company leadership by supporting Better's strategy before joining the board, only to later push him out.
The Board Pushes Back on Garg's Comeback Bid
Better Home & Finance's board responded on August 14, stating it unanimously voted to terminate Garg over cumulative GAAP net losses exceeding $1.5 billion since 2022 and a 90% stock decline. The board's statement, issued through a corporate release, also accused Garg of improperly delaying the company's Q2 SEC filing by refusing to sign mandatory executive representation letters and alleged he improperly solicited shareholders and disclosed confidential company information in violation of federal securities laws.
The board has cited concerns about Garg's judgment, temperament and credibility, concerns Garg disputes. Better's directors formally voted to remove him from the chief executive role, a decision that followed years of volatility for the company since its troubled public-market debut through a special purpose acquisition company merger.
Dueling Numbers Behind the Fight for Control
The clash over votes now runs through federal filings. A preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC on August 17 by the “Garg Group” shows Garg beneficially holds 118,260 Class A shares and 1,910,964 super-voting Class B shares, which carry three votes apiece, representing 13.7% of total voting stock. Better Home & Finance maintains a dual-class equity structure in which Class B shares hold triple the voting weight of Class A common shares, and the filing is part of a written consent solicitation aimed at repealing recent bylaw changes and removing five directors within 60 days.
Garg has proposed a turnaround package to back up his bid: a symbolic $1 annual salary until profitability, a $30 million stock buyback with $10 million executed within five trading days, a personal $5 million investment via a 10b5-1 plan, and an independent search for a permanent long-term CEO. He has said he would eventually step aside for a longer-term leader, offering to transition into a Chairman or Chief Product and Innovation Officer role once that successor is chosen.
A Company Still Losing Money Despite Revenue Growth
Better Home & Finance reported financial losses even as its top-line numbers improved. Its Q2 2026 results, announced August 7, showed total net revenue up 28% year-over-year to $54.7 million and funded loan volume rising 38% to $1.67 billion, though the company still recorded a net loss of $30.6 million and an accumulated deficit that has reached $2.18 billion. Garg has said the company increased loan production and points to AI-powered tools as helping improve performance, arguing Better was moving closer to profitability under his leadership.
Central to that argument is Tinman AI, Better's proprietary origination platform, which processed 38% of company loan originations in 2025 and reduced average origination costs from $12,000 to under $3,000 per loan, according to Mortgage Professional. The artificial intelligence and automation technology is designed to streamline the mortgage approval process, and the company has been investing in it as part of its broader turnaround attempts while also expanding partnerships to adapt to a higher-rate environment.
From $8 Billion Peak to a Battle Over Control
The company's swing from boom to bust has defined its short public history. During the height of the 2021 pandemic refinancing surge, when mortgage rates sat near historic lows, Better Home & Finance reached a valuation of roughly $8 billion. Annual sales fell sharply once the refinancing boom ended and rising interest rates alongside declining loan demand across the mortgage industry reduced the company's value, though sales have since begun recovering.
Better went public in August 2023 via a reverse merger with blank-check company Aurora Acquisition Corp., and its stock plunged more than 90% after that SPAC transaction. The 2021 layoffs, in which Garg terminated workers over a Zoom call, sparked widespread criticism and the company also faced regulatory scrutiny in the years that followed. Amid the current governance fight, Better has been trying to complete its turnaround and reassure investors after years of volatility, including classifying its UK subsidiary, Birmingham Bank, as a held-for-sale discontinued operation and taking a $15.7 million write-down tied to a $20.1 million six-month loss from that unit, according to a quarterly SEC filing reported by TradingView.
New Leadership Steps In as the Fight Continues
Daniel Lewis, the interim CEO now at the center of Garg's accusations, joined Better's board in July 2026 and was elevated to the top job on August 3, replacing outgoing board member David Barse. Lewis founded the hedge fund Orange Capital and spent several months as an independent advisor guiding the company's cost-reduction programs and partner-led platform strategies before his board appointment, per a company announcement covered by Mortgage Professional.
Garg says he has support from investors representing a significant portion of Better Home & Finance's voting power as he pushes his written consent solicitation forward. Whether that support is sufficient to force out five sitting directors within the SEC's 60-day window remains an open contest between Garg's camp and the board, with both sides now laying out competing financial and governance arguments in federal filings and public statements.
