On Nov. 30, a single day before the digital mortgage company would lay off 900 staffers, Kevin Ryan, Better’s CFO, had blasted a cheerful note to employees with “some really exciting news:” Better had secured $1.5 billion in debt and convertible notes from two of its investors ahead of its SPAC merger. Before the end of the week, there would be $1 billion in cash on the company’s balance sheet.
That fat sum was nothing to sneeze at. But neither were the terms SoftBank had set for CEO Vishal Garg as part of the financing infusion.
