(Bloomberg) -- Vishal Garg, chief executive officer of mortgage and real estate startup Better HoldCo Inc., apologized for firing 900 workers over Zoom after clips of the incident went viral and prompted the departure of executives.

“I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution,” Garg said in an apology posted on the company’s website. “I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”

On Nov. 30, a day before the mass firing, the SoftBank Group Corp-backed startup and blank-check firm Aurora Acquisition Corp. announced an agreement that included $750 million of immediate bridge financing for Better. Better plans to list through a merger with Aurora, though the timing is being pushed back, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. 

Despite the cash infusion, Garg told staff gathered on the Zoom call that he came with “not great news” as the market had changed and the company had “to move with it in order to survive,” according to leaked clips of the call. He proceeded to announce the layoffs in the U.S. and India, saying it had been a challenging decision and one he didn’t want to make. 

The company’s head of marketing and vice president of communications submitted their resignations over the last week, the Daily Beast reported Dec. 7 citing unnamed sources. The heads of communications and public relations stepped down in the last two days, it added.

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