Better Home & Finance, or Better.com, had an awful Thursday debut on the Nasdaq — the stock slumped as much as 95% on its first day of trade.
Shares of the Softbank-backed online mortgage lender — which had merged with blank-check company Aurora Acquisition Corp. — plunged at the opening bell. They fell so quickly that trading was halted four times in the first 30 minutes, Insider’s Alex Nicoll reported on Thursday.
Better.com’s disastrous debut on the Nasdaq followed dramatic turns at the digital mortgage company since December 2021 when CEO Vishal Garg brutally laid off 900 employees on a Zoom call.
He also accused at least 250 of the laid-off staffers of stealing from the company over-reporting their working hours, Fortune reported at the time.
News of Garg’s handling of the mass firing went viral, and he later apologized to the remaining employees, admitting that he had “blundered the execution” of the layoffs.
Garg seems to have emerged a different person from the episode, telling TechCrunch in an interview published Wednesday that he had since gone through “a lot” of leadership training and has “worked really, really hard” to be a kinder boss.
News of Better.com’s plans to go public first broke in May 2021, but the merger with Aurora was delayed amid regulatory scrutiny and the controversial layoffs.
Better.com grew massively during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the hot housing market and low interest rates. But it posted a net first-quarter loss of $89.9 million in July due to falling demand for mortgages on the back of soaring interest rates.
Despite the setback in its stock price on its trading debut, Better.com said it is taking a long-term view of its business.
“We’re focused on building a multi-generational business that creates long-term value for our investors,” Kevin Ryan, president and CFO of Better.com told Insider.
Shares closed 93.4% lower at $1.15 apiece on Thursday.
