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Theranos' Death Rattle


TwiceHorn

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Theranos, the hubristic firm that promised efficient blood-testing—and which was revealed by degrees to be writing checks its technology couldn’t cash—still employed approximately 125 people earlier this week. As of today, according to The Wall Street Journal, than number is now “two dozen or fewer.”

https://gizmodo.com/theranos-which-somehow-still-employed-people-lays-off-1825152140

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A: Their BOD-

George Shultz (former Sec of St), William Perry (former Secretary of Defense), Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of State), Sam Nunn (former U.S. Senator), Bill Frist (former U.S. Senator and heart-transplant surgeon), Gary Roughead (Admiral, USN, retired), James Mattis (General, USMC), Richard Kovacevich (former Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO) and Riley Bechtel (chairman of the board and former CEO at Bechtel Group).


The company was near bankruptcy until it received a $100 million investment from Fortress Investment Group in 2017.

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The Silicon Valley machine has picked and groomed her to be the heir to Steve Jobs, right down to her black turtlenecks. She will re-emerge in a few years having “reinvented herself and full of innovation” and be handed the reins of another tech startup. 
So on TV between 4am-6am every Saturday.
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11 hours ago, Gardner Barnes said:

The worst part of this whole entire can of horseass is that somehow she will come out of this fraudulent shitshow a multi-millionaire. Maybe not next week - but within 5 years? Almost a certainty.

 

 

2 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

The Silicon Valley machine has picked and groomed her to be the heir to Steve Jobs, right down to her black turtlenecks. She will re-emerge in a few years having “reinvented herself and full of innovation” and be handed the reins of another tech startup. 

These are almost certain to the point I'd be surprised if it doesn't happen.

I've been reading the series in the WSJ about this being that they're the ones that broke the original story.  George Schultz (Reagan's Secretary of State) was on the Board of Directors.  His grandson worked for the company and was one of the original whistleblowers that the entire thing was a fraud.  His grandfather called him over to his house and told him to knock it off.

The entire leadership team knew it was bogus.  What makes this different than the rest of the bullshit products that come out of Silcion Valley is that this wasn't some app that made it easier to get laid.  This dealt with health care, which is highly regulated and has much more severe consequences.

They're making a movie about this and from what I understand, Jennifer Lawrence is playing Holmes.  Looking forward to it, actually.

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12 hours ago, Gardner Barnes said:

The worst part of this whole entire can of horseass is that somehow she will come out of this fraudulent shitshow a multi-millionaire. Maybe not next week - but within 5 years? Almost a certainty.

 

It's like once you're in the club even if you get disgraced they won't kick you out. I fully expect her and Harvey Weinstein to be running mates for public office and win.

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  • 2 months later...

Holmes is being criminally charged, WSJ reports. 

 

Nine counts of wire fraud based on misrepresentations to investors. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/06/disgraced-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-indicted-on-criminal-charges/?comments=1&post=35517295

A bit surprising given all her connections and her Caucasianness. 

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Actually, the "loss number" in the indictment is pretty large and that factors heavily in the sentence.  The SEC pegged it at 700 million. That could result in some serious jailtime.  (It was the gigantic loss number that got Madoff life).

 

The problem with these cases, more often than not, is that the sentencing judge sees his or her self, a daughter, or a relative and pulls the punches in a way they don't for Jose, Tyrone, or LaKeisha.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

The Silicon Valley insists upon itself. And to think Hewlett-Packard doesn't even exist anymore.

This is funny because almost all serious VCs walked away from investing in this company. All the money was from east coast, non-VC who wanted be in the next thing. 

VC is looking good after this because they weren’t fooled and did their diligence. 

Edited by Washpark
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1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Just think she was CEO even up until yesterday.  Despite everything else that's gone on, she still remained.  I guess actually criminal charges were too much.

Only in Silicon Valley would someone like Holmes still be taken seriously.

Except no one in SV invested in this company.  GET YOUR SHINEBOX 

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10 minutes ago, Washpark said:

Except no one in SV invested in this company.  GET YOUR SHINEBOX 

Plenty of Silicon Valley types invested in the early rounds.  Not so much the later ones.  And yeah, the later ones apparently did no diligence, much less due diligence.

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Plenty of Silicon Valley types invested in the early rounds.  Not so much the later ones.  And yeah, the later ones apparently did no diligence, much less due diligence.


Seed investing always on market opp and founder not product

Later rounds all SV money walked away after diligence with notably GV making very public comments

SV didn’t make this monster but people want a headline when east coast and Washington sat on the board and invested.
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1 minute ago, Washpark said:

 


Seed investing always on market opp and founder not product

Later rounds all SV money walked away after diligence with notably GV making very public comments

SV didn’t make this monster but people want a headline when east coast and Washington sat on the board and invested.

 

Do you know who George Schultz is?  

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20 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I can understand how investors can get pulled into a company that wants to change the world and presents a good front but how could Walgreens not force the issue to have the equipment tested to ensure it works?

 

 

I think that's a big part of the unraveling.  Walgreens wanted in on this before there was actually a product, but when none was forthcoming, and the FDA/CMS terminated Theranos' conventional testing lab, Walgreens said I'm out.

 

The fact of it is, as far as I can tell, most investors are really terrible at evaluating technology. Sometimes they can see markets better than the inventor-types, but if the inventor is basically lying about the technology, it's going to be a while before the investment community and press figure it out.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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