After Sacking Over 4,000 Employees, Better.com Offers India Employees 'Option To Leave'

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse for Better.com employees. After already laying off nearly 4,000 employees in the US and India in the past six months or so, digital mortgage lender Better.com has now offered India employees the ¡®option to leave¡¯, as per an IANS report.

The company will pay severance or voluntary separation and health insurance coverage.

In recent weeks, Better.com has offered "its workers in India the option to leave under a voluntary separation agreement". In total, nearly 920 workers had their resignations accepted, as per the report.

According to the company, the uncertain mortgage market conditions created an exceedingly challenging operating environment for many companies in the industry.

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As recently as last month, the company had conducted a third round of layoffs, firing around 1000 employees in April 2022.

CEO ¡®Personally¡¯ Liable For $750 Million Softbank Loan

Better.com¡¯s CEO Vishal Garg had hogged the limelight for firing nearly 900 employees over a Zoom call in December 2021. And now, he has reportedly acknowledged to employees that he "personally guaranteed" $750 million of the $1.5 billion cash infusion into the company by SoftBank.

It was Garg and not the company who took responsibility for compensating the Japanese investment giant SoftBank for any losses, reports Tech Crunch.

CEO Garg in an email to employees acknowledged personal responsibility for the $750 million cash infusion, the report said last week.

"I am fully committed to everything I own and will ever own. Five years from now, when that SoftBank $750 million loan comes due around my 50th birthday, it means I have nothing. Well, at least we will have given it a real shot... this is true. I did personally guarantee three quarters of a billion dollars and I'm personally liable for it, the CEO reportedly told the employees.

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Also Read: IT Giant HCL Reportedly Asked Resigning Employees To 'Return' Their Bonuses

This was in response to an earlier incident.

On November 30, 2021, Better.com, which is a digital mortgage lender, had announced that "Aurora Acquisition Corp and SoftBank decided to amend the terms of their financing agreement to provide Better.com with half of the $1.5 billion they committed immediately instead of waiting until the deal closes".

A filing by Aurora (which is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, SPAC) reportedly said the "Better Founder and CEO in his personal capacity has agreed to enter into a side letter with SoftBank, according to which he may be liable for realised losses or receive payments in certain circumstances from SoftBank in connection with the post-closing convertible notes"

Also Read: Great Resignation Spree Still On! Infosys & TCS Witness All-time High Attrition Rates In 2022

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