Better.com CEO gushed over ousted founder before – Business News
Better.com’s new boss as soon as informed the mortgage lender’s founder, “I actually love you,” and showered him with reward as a “0.01%” expertise — before changing him within the prime job and turning into his adversary in an more and more nasty battle for control of the company, in line with courtroom papers.
Daniel Lewis, an activist investor who amassed a stake in Better, repeatedly gushed over founder Vishal Garg in personal textual content messages whereas advising him on strategy, courtroom filings mentioned.
“I woke up this morning thinking about you — you are by far the most compelling CEO in my public portfolio,” Lewis wrote to Garg on March 10, in line with messages included in courtroom filings.
Better.com founder Vishal Garg is battling the mortgage lender he based after its board ousted him as CEO and changed him with Daniel Lewis. Bloomberg by way of Getty Images
The outstanding bromance unraveled months later when Garg, who made headlines in 2021 after he let go some 900 staff over a Zoom call, nominated Lewis to Better’s board on July 27.
Just one week later, on Aug. 3, the board fired Garg after 12 years working the home-finance company. Lewis was put in as interim CEO.
Boardroom tumult
Now Better and its founder are slugging it out in Manhattan federal courtroom over Garg’s effort to oust Lewis and 4 different administrators. While Better is accusing Garg of taking unlawful steps in that effort, Garg is hoping to turn out to be interim CEO if he prevails.
Just hours after Garg was canned, Lewis, who had taken over as interim CEO, continued sending affectionate messages.
“You are the last person I am texting tonight — you are on my mind. You are in my heart, whether you believe it or not,” Lewis wrote shortly after midnight on Aug. 4, in line with the messages included in courtroom filings.
Less than two minutes later, Lewis wrote in all caps: “REMOVING VISHAL GARG IS NOT WINNING. HE IS OUR FOUNDER.”
Garg now alleges Lewis maneuvered his approach into energy after spending months ingratiating himself with the founder — an accusation contained in Garg’s opposition filed Monday to Better’s request for a courtroom order proscribing his shareholder revolt.
Better.com interim CEO Daniel Lewis repeatedly praised Garg in personal texts before changing him within the prime job, it was alleged. Better.com
Lewis informed The Post: “Let’s set the record straight. At the time of those quotes, I was an outside shareholder trying to coach Vishal relying solely on public information.”
He added that Garg “described himself as a ‘man child’ and as ’emotionally unintelligent’.”
“Against that backdrop, the tone of the messages should surprise no one. If telling Vishal I loved him every morning helped motivate him, focus him, calm him down or make him a better CEO, I was perfectly happy to tell him I loved him every morning,” Lewis mentioned.
Lewis alleged that after he “got inside the company” in May of this yr, he “saw the corporate waste, the related-party dealings, the toxicity and dysfunction, and initiatives that made zero sense.”
“All the love died when the diligence began,” Lewis mentioned.
A spokesperson for Garg mentioned it was “straight-up false” that he informed Lewis he was a “man child” or “emotionally unintelligent.”
Better, based in 2015, is a publicly traded digital home-finance company that sought to upend the normal mortgage business by way of technology.
Garg served as CEO from its inception till his Aug. 3 termination.
Lewis started building a stake in Better in 2025 and disclosed possession of 476,283 Class A shares that October, in line with Garg’s submitting.
At the identical time, the 2 males developed a close relationship.
‘You’re a great man’
“I find you at a level that is in the 0.01%. I know what I see,” Lewis wrote Garg in October 2025, in line with courtroom papers.
“You have earned my respect over this last year — I will be there for you,” he wrote in March.
In one other message that month, Lewis informed Garg: “I always wonder why people cant [sic] go as fast as I can. And you go faster. Humbling, to be honest.”
As lately as May 28, Lewis informed Garg he had been “FANTASTIC today. 10/10.”
Garg grew to become infamous in 2021 after firing roughly 900 Better.com staff during a Zoom call.
The subsequent day he wrote: “CEO you have my respect — you’re a great guy. Lots we can learn and do together.”
The messages, all of which had been included in filings, weren’t uniformly flattering. Lewis additionally warned Garg about his repute for being overly aggressive with projections and known as the founder each Better’s “greatest opportunity and risk factor.”
By May, in line with Garg’s attorneys, Lewis was proposing sweeping modifications at Better, together with board resignations, seats for Lewis and his allies and aggressive cost-cutting.
Garg’s attorneys now call Lewis the “architect of the coup” that finally toppled him. That characterization is disputed and has not been adjudicated by the courtroom.
Shares tumble
The boardroom upheaval despatched Better shares tumbling.
Garg’s courtroom papers say the stock fell 41.6%, from a $27.30 close on Aug. 3 to a $15.95 low the next day, and had fallen almost 60% to $11.68 by final Friday.
Lewis, in the meantime, went on what Garg’s attorneys describe as a four-week trip within the south of France after taking the helm, in line with the submitting.
The drama took one other weird flip simply three days after Garg’s firing.
Garg claims Better supplied to carry him back as vice chairman and an adviser to Lewis by way of the tip of 2027 in a compensation bundle his attorneys say was value more than $15 million on the time.
Garg rejected the offer, saying the position lacked the chief authority he believed was needed to make mandatory modifications at Better.
The subsequent day, Garg claims, board chair Harit Talwar and director Prabhu Narasimhan acknowledged that putting in Lewis had been a mistake and proposed an “off-ramp.”
Better.com is embroiled in a bitter struggle over control of its board as founder Vishal Garg seeks to take away Lewis and 4 different administrators. Better.com
Garg claims that if he might have demonstrated that shareholders holding a majority of Better’s voting energy opposed the new regime, 4 administrators would resign and pave the best way for a reconstituted board.
They requested him to acquire formal proof of shareholder assist by way of what they known as a “requisition letter,” Garg claimed.
“If a requisition letter is sent and the board is sacked we are done,” Narasimhan wrote Garg on Aug. 10, in line with the courtroom submitting.
That alleged association is now central to the federal courtroom struggle: Garg argues the board requested him to assemble proof of shareholder assist, just for Better to later accuse him of illegal solicitation and coordination with the buyers whose backing he obtained.
Garg initially claimed these buyers represented a majority of Better’s voting energy — however that turned out to be flawed.
His attorneys now acknowledge the group represented round 45% of the vote, short of the bulk needed to take away the administrators.
Better sued Garg on Aug. 18, accusing him of federal securities-law violations tied to the shareholder marketing campaign, together with allegedly deceptive claims about his voting assist and improper coordination with different buyers.
Garg’s attorneys have branded the episode one other Better “gotcha” — arguing the company requested him to assemble shareholder backing, equipped the figures behind his inaccurate majority declare after which sued him over the ensuing marketing campaign.
