dChan
Anonymous ID: 1fa80a Dec. 8, 2021, 2:46 p.m. No.15160288   🗄️.is 🔗kun

There has been lots of news coverage (and Notables here) on the Zoom-call firing of 900 employees.

 

So what does Better.com do?

 

2015 - Began working with mortgage borrowers directly online without commissioned loan officers.

 

2016 - Approved as a Fannie Mae seller/servicer and established relationships with 17 top mortgage investors.

 

2018 - $1 Billion in total funded loans.

 

Per its website, it is backed by:

  • SoftBank*

  • Ally

  • Citi

  • Ping An Bank**

  • Goldman Sachs

  • KPCB (Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers)***

  • American Express

____

 

  • SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital. Fund investors include sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.

 

As of September 2020, SoftBank ownership is:

 

  • Masayoshi Son (21.25%)

  • The Master Trust Bank of Japan investment trusts (10.25%)

  • Japan Trustee Services Bank main investment trusts (5.87%)

  • JPMorgan Chase (7.45%)

  • Citibank (1.4%)

  • The Vanguard Group (2.19%)

  • Capital Group Companies (2.4%)

  • Baillie Gifford (1.36%)

 

____

 

**Ping An Bank -

a Chinese joint-stock commercial bank with its headquarters in Shenzhen. It primarily operates in Mainland China with a representative branch in Hong Kong.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping_An_Bank

 

and

 

*BEIJING, Oct 22, 2021 (Reuters) - China's Ping An Bank Co Ltd (000001.SZ) said its "special-mention" andoverdue loansincreased in the third quarter mainly due to a liquidity crunch at Shenzhen Baoneng, a property and financial services conglomerate.

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/chinas-ping-an-bank-says-its-overdue-loans-rise-baoneng-liquidity-crunch-2021-10-22/

_____

 

*** KPCB has a vibrant division in Shanghai.

http://www.kpcb.com/china/

 

  • Is now known as Kleiner Perkins.

"The firm still legally bears the names of Fairchild Semiconductor co-founder Eugene Kleiner and Hewlett-Packard veteran Tom Perkins,biotech pioneerBrook Byers and early venture veteran Frank Caufield. But in summer 2018, it rebranded as simply 'Kleiner Perkins.'” (Oct 31, 2019) https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/10/31/kleiner-perkins.html

 

-Colin Powell joined as a strategic partner in 2005

 

-Al Gore joined as partner in 2007.

 

  • Wasearly investor in Google, Twitter, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Compaq, Genetech, Beyond Meat, AOL (America Online), Sun Microsystems, Lotus Development, among others. Partnered with Facebook.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiner_Perkins

______

 

[Back to Better.com]

 

$1 biillion in funded mortgages in 2018.

 

"Housing overall is a $33 trillion business, and mortgages account for $15 trillion."

 

https://better.com/about-us

 

The layoffs come as the company received a$750 million cash injectionfrom its biggest backer, Softbank, ahead of itsplans to go public through a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp., giving it $1 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/better-com-layoffs

____

 

"… Blank-check company Aurora Acquisition Corp. and SoftBank have decided toamend the terms of their financing agreement to provide Better with half of the $1.5 billion they committedimmediately instead of waiting till the deal closes.

 

"… ==puts more money on the balance sheet overall to fuel further growth… Better.com will have $1 billion on its balance sheet by week’s end.

 

"In the email, [CFO] Ryan told employees:

 

"We pulled forward the funding of our SPAC deal … With this new structure the company will fortify our balance sheet and position us as extremely well capitalized in a tough mortgage market. Surviving is winning and capital ensures survival … By the end of this week we expect to have $1 billion of cash on the company’s balance sheet. Quantum’s more than we have ever had. [sic] We willcontinue working through the process of public listing but the most important step has been taken (getting the money).

 

"Thenew arrangement will replace the prior agreement wherein $950 million of the $1.78 billion in committed financing from Aurora and SoftBank would have been used to purchase existing shares from Better’s stockholders rather than the company receiving it directly to its balance sheet.

 

"The amended terms will not change Better’s implied valuation of $6.9 billion, the company says.

 

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/30/better-com-gets-750m-cash-infusion-in-new-agreement-with-its-spac-backers/