Vishal Garg outlined plans to cut costs at Better Home & Finance Holding Co., expand its wholesale and home equity businesses, and pursue a share repurchase program during a shareholder call on Tuesday afternoon, a day after regaining control of the company’s board.
Garg said during his “Better 2.0” presentation and a lengthy Q&A session that the company has identified a candidate for interim CEO and is finalizing engagement. The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on Tuesday that its board had removed Daniel Lewis as interim CEO effective Oct. 5 and had started the search for a successor.
Garg also said the company has started a search for a permanent CEO with experience in credit, artificial intelligence and fintech. He said he expects to remain as “the face of” the company but did not share what his new position would be.
“I think that real leaders are able to lead with empathy while driving results. I’m able to drive results without empathy, and so I can’t be a real leader of the company,” Garg said. “We’re going to get a real leader of the company that can drive results and take the things that I’m really, really good at, and then drive them with empathy.”
The shareholder call came after Garg and other members of his group won a consent solicitation that resulted in the removal of five directors — Lewis, Arnaud Massenet, Bhaskar Menon, Prabhu Narasimhan and Harit Talwar.
Hugh Frater, who had previously said he would resign if Garg assumed an executive role at the company, left the board effective upon the removals, per the SEC filing.
Garg, as the sole remaining director, appointed Bing Gordon, Steven Sarracino, Paula Tuffin and Nicholas Calamari to fill the board vacancies.
Garg said during the call that his 90-day priorities include improving operating efficiency, expanding the company’s home equity line of credit business, selling its U.K. bank and improving the company’s financial performance.
Better’s operating expenses are currently about $65 million per quarter, Garg said. The company is targeting a reduction to about $50 million per quarter while also seeking to increase quarterly revenue from the $50 million range to more than $65 million.
“If we get halfway to our goals in either direction, we’re at break-even,” he said.
Garg said the planned sale of Better’s U.K. bank, Birmingham Bank, could release about $65 million in cash to the company, depending on the bank’s loan book and operations. He said the company expects to have more than $140 million in combined cash after the transaction and does not anticipate needing to raise additional capital over the next 12 months.
Better announced Monday that a buyer consortium had placed 10 million pounds in escrow for the proposed acquisition of Birmingham Bank. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. Garg said he expects the bank sale to close within three to four months and does not anticipate needing a cash infusion as the company works toward break-even.
Garg also said Better plans to pursue a stock repurchase program “as soon as practical,” arguing that the company’s shares are undervalued relative to other technology-focused mortgage platforms.
The company plans to make its HELOC business a major growth driver. Garg said Better has signed a deal to launch HELOCs on Credit Karma and is seeking to restart discussions with five additional potential household-name partners that stalled during the two-month leadership dispute.
Better also plans to expand its wholesale mortgage business, Garg said, sharing that the company is “full speed ahead.” The company has previously focused on direct-to-consumer lending and partnerships, but he said the lender now intends to serve customers through its direct, retail and wholesale channels.
Garg said Better also aims to improve mortgage-funnel conversion rates, arguing that bringing lead-to-lock and lock-to-fund performance in line with industry standards could nearly double revenue without raising costs.
The company is also using AI to lower production costs and streamline processing, combining large language models with machine learning and a deterministic engine to improve consistency.
Garg acknowledged that the two-month-long leadership dispute, which began after Garg was removed as CEO by the board in August, had an impact on Better’s business relationships. He said during the call with shareholders that several partnerships stalled during the period.
“We may have lost one or two who went and decided to pick someone else,” he said. “But the pipeline is very full.”
Garg said Better has about 45 days to submit a plan to address a Nasdaq board-related requirement and 180 days to cure the issue. He said the company expects to add additional directors.
Garg also said the company is considering allowing multiple retail and wholesale brands to operate on its platform, describing a potential model similar to a marketplace.
