Better.com founder Vishal Garg claims shareholder victory to oust CEO, board less than 2 months after firing

Better.com founder Vishal Garg says he has finally secured enough shareholder votes to oust the board members who pushed him out — potentially handing him control of the embattled mortgage lender less than two months after his stunning defenestration.Garg’s investor group announced Wednesday that shareholders representing more than 51% of Better’s voting power have signed written consents to remove interim CEO Daniel Lewis and four other directors.If Better formally accepts the votes as valid, Garg’s group would have enough shareholder support to reshape the board — effectively turning the tables on the directors who fired him as CEO on Aug.3.But Garg, who first generated headlines five years ago when he let go around 900 of his employees over a Zoom call, in does not plan to reclaim his old job.Instead, his group said it plans to install an outside interim CEO with mortgage-industry expertise while Garg becomes Better’s head of product, platform and innovation.“This is a resounding victory for Better’s shareholders, customers and employees, who all participated in organizing the resistance to the coup led by Daniel Lewis and the incumbent board,” Garg said in announcing the vote.The vote “serves the best interests of every Better shareholder,” said Garg attorney Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel.“No public CEO has ever been pushed out, litigated the issue, and won his way back in two months.

Vishal Garg has been vindicated,” he added.Better is a New York-based, publicly traded digital mortgage lender the market value of which has plunged to roughly $200 million to $230 million from a $7.7 billion valuation when its SPAC deal was announced in 2021.The latest development would mark a dramatic reversal in a bitter boardroom war that erupted after Garg nominated Lewis — an investor who had become a close confidant — to Better’s board on July 27.Just one week later, the board fired Garg after roughly 11 years as CEO and installed Lewis as inte...