Better.com CEO fires 900 employees over Zoom call

On Wednesday, around 900 employees of a real estate company Better.com were asked to attend a Zoom call. The pre-holiday call did not however come with good news. CEO Vishal Marg delivered a 3-minute speech to the employees and informed them that they were "terminated effective immediately." 

Videos of this Zoom call have been posted to various social media platforms including YouTube with a source familiar with the company confirming the authenticity of the recordings. In the video, Garg is dressed in business casuals and tells the workers that the challenging decision was made by him and this is the second time he has had to lay off workers. Garg confides to the employees, "The last time I did it, I cried. This time I hope to be stronger." 

Meanwhile, this video has sparked an outrage on the internet with users decrying Garg's mass layoff as "crass" and criticizing his timing just weeks before the holidays. Fired employees from better.com have been looking for new jobs while also expressing their surprise at the sudden terminations. In the video, the CEO says that this mass layoff would affect 15% of Better.com's workforce. But he misspoke according to the person who verified the video. They say that only 9% of the workforce has been affected. Officials from the company did not respond to any requests for comments. 

Source: CBS News