Vishal Garg has opened a battle to regain control of Better Home & Finance after being removed as chief executive, escalating a boardroom dispute barely two weeks after investor Daniel Lewis joined the mortgage technology company’s board and then took over its top job.
Garg, who founded Better and remains a director and major voting shareholder, says he was misled by Lewis, whom he had welcomed to the board on July 27. Garg has accused Lewis of gaining his confidence by supporting the company’s strategy and discussing ways to cut costs before persuading other directors to replace him. Lewis was appointed interim chief executive on August 3. The company initially described Garg’s departure as a mutually agreed transition.
That account has since been overtaken by an increasingly hostile dispute. Better’s board now says Garg was terminated after directors, excluding Garg himself, unanimously concluded that a series of decisions had raised concerns about his judgment, temperament and credibility. The board has also linked its decision to the company’s financial performance, pointing to more than $1.5 billion in cumulative GAAP net losses since 2022 and a share-price decline exceeding 90 per cent during Garg’s tenure. Garg disputes the board’s broader characterisation of his leadership and argues that the business was approaching a turnaround.
The confrontation has moved beyond the chief executive’s office. Garg says he has obtained signed declarations from shareholders controlling a majority of Better’s voting power and has retained lawyer Alex Spiro for a campaign to reshape the board. His proposal seeks the resignation of five directors and could lead to a special shareholder meeting if the directors do not step aside. Garg has offered to return as chief executive for a salary of $1 until the company becomes profitable and has proposed purchasing $30 million of Better shares, including $10 million during the first five trading days of his return.
Better has rejected the attempted comeback and told shareholders that established corporate procedures govern any changes to the board. Directors have also accused Garg of delaying the company’s quarterly filing by failing to provide representation letters needed for its Form 10-Q. Garg contests that version. He says the final document reached him seven minutes after the filing deadline and that he signed promptly after reviewing changes in the paperwork.
The struggle comes as Better attempts to convert improving mortgage volumes into sustainable profits after years of losses. Second-quarter funded loan volume reached $1.67 billion, up 45 per cent from a year earlier, while revenue rose 28 per cent to $54.7 million. The company nevertheless recorded a $30.6 million net loss and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $14 million. Better has endured 11 consecutive quarters of losses and expects another adjusted EBITDA deficit of between $15 million and $18 million in the third quarter.
Garg argues those figures mask significant operational gains. Quarterly revenue has risen from about $20 million in early 2024 to $54.7 million, while funded loan volume has increased from roughly $600 million to $1.67 billion over the same period. He has also pointed to a sharp decline in loan-production costs, from around $12,000 per mortgage to below $3,000, as evidence that Better’s Tinman artificial-intelligence platform is improving efficiency.
Lewis has taken a different strategic view, placing greater emphasis on a partner-led model in which outside companies handle customer acquisition while Better concentrates on mortgage manufacturing, technology, underwriting and infrastructure. The company has increased its annualised cost-reduction target to more than $45 million by year-end and is continuing efforts to sell Birmingham Bank, its UK banking subsidiary.
The conflict marks another dramatic turn for Garg, whose management style drew worldwide attention in December 2021 when he dismissed about 900 employees during a short Zoom call. He later apologised for the manner in which the layoffs were communicated and temporarily stepped away from day-to-day leadership.
Better subsequently faced a severe reversal as the pandemic refinancing boom ended and mortgage rates climbed. The company, once valued at about $8 billion in private markets, eventually listed publicly through a merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp in 2023. Its shares then lost more than 90 per cent of their value as high borrowing costs weakened demand and the company struggled to stem losses.
Lewis had entered the board as founder and managing partner of Orange Capital and a significant Better shareholder, bringing more than three decades of investment, operating and governance experience. Only days before the leadership upheaval, Garg publicly praised Lewis’s experience in capital allocation, operational execution and regulated industries, saying it would help Better pursue its next stage of growth.
