Better Home & Finance's board fired CEO Vishal Garg on August 3, 2026, replacing him with hedge fund manager Daniel Lewis, who joined the board just a week earlier on July 27 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. The move follows a deep crisis for the company, which saw its market value collapse from around $8 billion at its 2021 peak to about $300 million in 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
Garg, a controversial figure known for laying off 900 employees via a Zoom call in December 2021, representing roughly 9% of the workforce, now holds a board seat and special voting B shares that give him power and confidence to challenge the leadership change [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8]. After losing the CEO role, Garg accused Lewis of deceitfully gaining trust by praising the company’s strategy publicly before orchestrating his ousting. "I was hoodwinked by Daniel Lewis. He said he liked the company’s strategy and praised us on X, using that to get on our board and win our confidence," Garg said [2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8].
Better’s business has been hit hard by rising mortgage refinancing rates near 7%, contracting revenues from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $70 million in 2023, with a forecast of $200 million in 2026 [4, 7, 8]. Its stock price dropped 93% after going public via a SPAC merger in 2023 and declined over 16% in 2026 before Garg’s dismissal. It fell another 45% under Lewis’s early tenure [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8].
Garg has retained legal representation, hiring lawyer Alex Spiro, and formally requested reinstatement as CEO on August 10, pledging a symbolic salary of $1 per year until profitability is restored [5, 6, 7, 8].
Better has invested in AI technologies to automate mortgage processing and expanded into home equity lending, attempting to diversify amid its financial challenges [4, 8]. The company’s next major test will be how it stabilizes operations and valuation under Lewis’s leadership.
