Better.com Starts Round Four of Layoffs

A Fourth Round? Better.com Better Figure it Out Quick

Tsk-tsk-tsk. As predicted, Better.com seems to be on the slippery slope of demise. We’ve all heard the death rattle, and been expecting the news for months now – but, struggling to hang on, they continue to drag out the inevitable. This week, yet another tip was given to TechCrunch that the mortgage lending company is poised for its fourth massive layoff since the beginning of December 2021.

What’s Going On

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably already know that Better has been in the news for several reasons lately, but none of them are good. The company has already gone through two massive layoffs, bumbling exactly – oh, two of them. (Yikes!) Even still, this company sputters and gasps, somehow still breathing, and multiple sources on the inside tell of yet another round of layoffs ahead. This time, the Better real estate team and workers in the refinance department are expected to be targeted. This comes as one might expect, as Better has said the company suffered badly with the increase in interest rates and inflation issues.

This is expected to affect hundreds more of the remaining staff. Better started out with about 10K employees in the U.S. and India, but in December laid off a little more than 900 of them on a Zoom call in their first round of layoffs. Then in March of this year, they executed a second massive layoff, this time over 3,000 employees being affected. A third round was accomplished just last week, with the company offering a 60-day severance pay and health care coverage for anyone who wanted to voluntarily separate from Better.

Now, this – and amidst the toxic environment this business’s CEO Vishal Garg inhabits. Speculation is now about shutting down those sections of the business altogether, with many predicting imminent catastrophic failure. Surprisingly, however, speaking of Garg, during a company meeting regarding the layoffs he apparently told employees that although they made $250 million last year, they “pissed away” $200 million. He admitted lacking any discipline with spending company money on hiring new workers during the pandemic.

Amazingly, Better says they are still planning to go public, in an attempt to boost their precarious financial position. Some people are speculating if Better fails, what does that mean for the proptech industry as a whole, moving forward? Perhaps it just means move over, Better – for better innovations and businesses to come.