Better Home & Finance Holding Co. reported $22.9 million in annualized savings from its turnaround plan, up from $16.3 million in the prior two weeks. The mortgage lender achieved an additional $6.6 million in annualized savings this week through staffing efficiencies in sales and operations and reductions in third-party vendor spending.
Founder Vishal Garg attributed the staffing savings to expanded capabilities of Tinman AI, the company's artificial intelligence platform. "Tinman AI was built to streamline sales and operation functions, improve customer response time, and strengthen conversion," Garg said.
Better has identified another $1.7 million in potential annualized savings and is targeting approximately $64.2 million once all initiatives are fully implemented.
The company reduced its board from nine members to five, removing Chairman Harit Talwar, former interim CEO Daniel Lewis, and directors Arnaud Massenet, Bhaskar Menon and Prabhu Narasimhan. Garg appointed Bing Gordon, Steven Sarracino, Paula Tuffin and Nicholas Calamari to fill vacancies. Linda Yaccarino, CEO of telehealth company eMed and former CEO of X Corp., joined as an independent director on Oct. 15. Tuffin resigned from the board one week later but remains as Better's general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary.
Better signed five new mortgage brokerages onto its wholesale platform, bringing the total to 38. The company is finalizing prelaunch activities for a large home equity line of credit partnership and working with three other major partners.
Better repurchased 174,007 shares during the week ending Oct. 26, with total repurchases reaching 911,725 shares, representing 6.9% of outstanding Class A shares.
The company will publish its management scorecard every Tuesday until reaching adjusted EBITDA breakeven. Better plans to announce third-quarter earnings results on Nov. 9.