CEO who infamously fired 900 staff over Zoom has suffered the ultimate turn of events
One controversial CEO has experienced a reversal of fortune after he gained infamy for firing workers over Zoom, as a new interim CEO let him go from the company he himself founded in what is claimed to be a 'hoodwinking'.
You might have heard of Vishal Garg before, as his decision to fire 900 employees of his company, Better Homes & Finance, over video calling platform Zoom on the eve of Christmas in 2021 left him the subject of significant vitriol on social media and online, with the company's experiencing a heavy review bombing campaign.
Layoffs are unfortunately commonplace in the world of employment – especially now in the midst of the AI revolution – yet many believe that Garg lacked the necessary empathy and picked what's probably the world possible time to leave hundreds of people without jobs.
Some feel as if he has got a taste of his own medicine, however, as Garg has been left without a job himself after being fired from Better — and he claims that he was 'tricked' in the lead up to the departure.
Infamous CEO fired from his own company
It certainly came as a shock to Garg when he was told by his board to step down, yet he believes that newly-implemented interim CEO Daniel Lewis – who joined Better's board just a week before the dismissal – is behind it all.
Advert
Offering his own speculation, as per the Independent, Garg spoke to CNN and claimed that Lewis, a hedge fund manager, convinced the board not only to fire the then-CEO, but also to implement himself as the replacement.
"He hoodwinked me," Garg proclaimed, expressing a feeling of betrayal. "He said he liked the company's strategy. He praised us on X and used that to get on our board and win our confidences."
Garg added that he suspects that Lewis "always wanted to become CEO," arguing that "the board made a mistake."
He has, however, been somewhat gracious in defeat, declaring: "It's not about me. I care about delivering savings to people and helping them live the American Dream. So when shareholders said, 'You need to take a back seat', I complied."
Garg claimed that Better was on an upward turn thanks to AI
Seemingly key to the decision for Better to depart with Garg as CEO was the company's declining fortunes over the last few years, as the infamous layoffs were paired with significant sales declines to make for a painful picture overall.
At the company's peak sales were generating as much as $1.5 billion in 2021, yet that figure had declined to just $70 million two years later. Garg confirmed that the company was on pace to increase numbers to $200 million by the end of 2026, however, suggesting that things were trending upward.
Key to that boost is the implementation of new AI-powered technology that helps quickly process mortgages when it would traditionally take days for 'dozens' of humans to do the same job, and the outgoing CEO has even offered to work for just $1 a year in order to turn things around and achieve profitability if he got his job back.