NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Better.com chief executive officer Vishal Garg is taking time off with immediate effect, Vice news reported last Friday (Dec 10), citing an e-mail from the digital mortgage company's board.

       Mr Garg apologised earlier this week for his manner of handling layoffs at the mortgage company after a video of him firing 900 people via a Zoom call went viral on social media.

       Chief financial officer Kevin Ryan will be managing the day-to-day decisions of the company and will be reporting to the board, Vice reported, citing the e-mail.

       Better.com's board has also engaged an independent third party firm to do a leadership and cultural assessment, according to the report.

       Better.com did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

       Mr Garg, who has come under fire following his actions at the SoftBank-backed company, said earlier this week he had "blundered the execution" of communicating the layoffs.

       The CEO had cited the market, performance and productivity as reasons behind the decision to lay off employees in the United States and India.

       Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners through its online platform.

       The company said in May it would go public through a merger with blank-cheque firm Aurora Acquisition, in a deal that valued it at US$7.7 billion (S$10.5 billion).

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