Indian-origin CEO Vishal Garg 'taking time off effective immediately': Report

Indian-origin CEO of Better.com Vishal Garg, who recently was massively trolled for laying off 900 employees over a Zoom meeting call, is "taking time off effective immediately", according to media reports.

According to Motherboard, the digital mortgage company's board of directors said in an email that the company has also hired an outside firm to "do a leadership and cultural assessment".

"Vishal will be taking time off effective immediately. During this interim period, Kevin Ryan as CFO will be managing the day-to-day decisions of the company and he will be reporting to the Board," the company said in an email.

"As well, the Board has engaged an independent third party firm to do a leadership and cultural assessment," it added.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Recently, the Indian-origin CEO had issued an apology to his employees for the embarrassing act that made headlines globally and hundreds of memes on social media platforms.

In a letter to employees that was leaked on Blind, an anonymous community app for the workplace, Garg said: "I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better. I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you."