Aurora Acquisition peaked at $58.24; Better.com tanked to $1.15.
Two articles.
Better.com’s improbable IPO proposal is approved
Shareholders at SPAC partner Aurora Acquisitions voted in favor of the merger proposal
August 11, 2023, 11:58 am
By Connie Kim
Housingwire
New York-based digital lender Better.com will be going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Aurora Acquisition Corp. nearly two years after Better’s initial timeline to IPO.
“At least 65% of the outstanding ordinary shares of the company entitled to vote at this meeting have voted in favor of (the) proposal,” Arnaud Massenet, CEO of Aurora Acquisition Corp, said in a shareholder’s meeting on Friday.
The transaction, once finalized, will infuse the combined entity with $750 million in new capital, Aurora’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July noted.
Better’s SPAC deal with Aurora had been extended three times amid unfavorable market conditions, mass layoffs, huge financial losses and a mountain of bad press.
Founded in 2014 by CEO Vishal Garg, Better has been making headlines for its layoffs since it gained notoriety by laying off about 900 employees over Zoom in December 2021.
The lender cut about 91% of its workforce over an 18-month period, Aurora’s filings with the SEC in July showed.
As of June 8, Better had about 950 team members, down from its peak of about 10,400 employees in Q4 2021.
Another controversy that didn’t help Better’s IPO was an SEC investigation over allegations Garg misled investors ahead of a planned SPAC merger. The SEC recently concluded it doesn’t intend to recommend an enforcement action against Better.
The digital lender posted a net loss of a net loss of $888.8 million in 2022 and $89.9 million in the first quarter of 2023, according to the SEC filing. Better funded 2,347 loans in Q1 2023, a decline of 87% compared to 18,559 loans funded in Q1 2022.
Better recently pivoted its real estate strategy, laying off its in-house brokerage subsidiary and partnering with outside agents.
Better ranked as the 59th largest mortgage lender in the country in the first quarter, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
Aurora’s shares were trading at $37.03 on Friday morning after the vote, down 8.77% from the previous closing. Aurora’s share price skyrocketed 530% to $62.91 after the SEC declared the SPAC combination effective.
Better.com's improbable IPO proposal is approved - HousingWire
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Shares of Better.com — whose CEO fired 900 workers on a Zoom call — slumped as much as 95% on their first day of trade
Business Insider
August 25, 2023
Better Home & Finance, or Better.com, had an awful Thursday debut on the Nasdaq — the stock slumped as much as 95% on its first day of trade.
Shares of the Softbank-backed online mortgage lender — which had merged with blank-check company Aurora Acquisition Corp. — plunged at the opening bell. They fell so quickly that trading was halted four times in the first 30 minutes, Insider’s Alex Nicoll reported on Thursday.
Better.com’s disastrous debut on the Nasdaq followed dramatic turns at the digital mortgage company since December 2021 when CEO Vishal Garg brutally laid off 900 employees on a Zoom call.
He also accused at least 250 of the laid-off staffers of stealing from the company over-reporting their working hours, Fortune reported at the time.
News of Garg’s handling of the mass firing went viral, and he later apologized to the remaining employees, admitting that he had “blundered the execution” of the layoffs.
Garg seems to have emerged a different person from the episode, telling TechCrunch in an interview published Wednesday that he had since gone through “a lot” of leadership training and has “worked really, really hard” to be a kinder boss.
News of Better.com’s plans to go public first broke in May 2021, but the merger with Aurora was delayed amid regulatory scrutiny and the controversial layoffs.
Better.com grew massively during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the hot housing market and low interest rates. But it posted a net first-quarter loss of $89.9 million in July due to falling demand for mortgages on the back of soaring interest rates.
Shares closed 93.4% lower at $1.15 apiece on Thursday.
Better.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
The post Shares of Better.com — whose CEO fired 900 workers on a Zoom call — slumped as much as 95% on their first day of trade appeared first on Business Insider.
Shares of Better.com — whose CEO fired 900 workers on a Zoom call — slumped as much as 95% on their first day of trade – DNyuz |
