Vishal Garg says shareholders back his return to Better, and he'll work for $1 to prove it
Vishal Garg, the ousted founder of Better Home & Finance Holding Company, announced on August 13 that he has secured signed declarations from shareholders holding a majority of the company's voting power.
The move is a direct bid to reconstitute the board and reclaim control of the AI mortgage platform he founded.
Garg, who was terminated as chief executive by the board just 10 days earlier, has retained high-profile attorney Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in connection with the shareholder action.
In a letter delivered to Better's board, Garg demanded that all directors except himself, Michael Farello, and Hugh Frater resign. If the board does not comply voluntarily, he and his supporting shareholders are prepared to call a special shareholder meeting.
Better's stock had already fallen more than 36% to $17.32 per share following Garg's departure and Daniel Lewis's appointment as interim chief executive.
The announcement drove shares down further, to approximately $15 by Thursday evening.
The case for a comeback
Garg's play is anchored in operational metrics. Since Q1 2024, Better's quarterly revenue has risen from approximately $20 million to $54.7 million in Q2 2026, while funded loan volume climbed from roughly $600 million to $1.67 billion. That's more than 2.5x increase in both figures, according to the company's own disclosures.
The cost to originate a single loan has dropped from approximately $12,000 to under $3,000, a reduction Garg attributes to the scaling of Better's proprietary Tinman AI platform.
Under his proposal, Garg would draw a $1 salary until the company reaches profitability, invest $5 million personally through a 10b5-1 plan, and support a $30 million stock buyback.
He would also lead a retained search for a permanent chief executive, a role he would subsequently vacate in favour of a chairman or chief product and innovation officer position.
The pending sale of Better's UK banking business, expected to generate approximately $74 million in gross proceeds subject to regulatory approval, is also part of his turnaround roadmap.
Better's expansion into AI-powered loan products under Garg, including the company's Betsy AI loan agent, has been central to its cost-reduction story.
"Better is at an inflection point," Garg said in the announcement.
"I am prepared to work for $1 until we are profitable, invest another $30 million alongside shareholders and finish the turnaround we started."
Board pushes back
The board's response was swift and categorical. In a statement issued hours after Garg's announcement, the directors, excluding Garg himself, said they had unanimously voted to terminate him following concerns about his "judgment, temperament and credibility."
The board cited cumulative GAAP net losses exceeding $1.5 billion since 2022 and a stock price that has declined more than 90% since Better's 2023 Nasdaq listing via a SPAC merger.
The board also disclosed that Garg had refused to execute mandatory representation letters required for Better to file its Form 10-Q, a refusal it described as the sole cause of the delayed filing and an apparent attempt to extract concessions.
More seriously, the board stated that it reviewed communications that, based on legal counsel's analysis, may constitute violations of US securities laws.
Multiple shareholder law firms have since launched investigations into potential securities fraud related to Better's disclosures and leadership changes.
The board said shareholders do not need to take any action at this time and indicated it would not be pressured into decisions it does not believe serve shareholder interests.
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