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Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

wsj.com

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Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#51

Post by pfarnsworth »

markk wrote: post #10
pfarnsworth wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what one deserves if one tries to peddle something that doesn't work to investors, and then gets hundreds of millions of dollars for it?

This is advocating revenge, and being pleased to see someone suffer. Imagine she had a breakdown due to stress and her life went off the rails - would you feel that was fair? How much would she have to suffer before you are satisfied?

How is self-inflicted pain considered revenge? She caused her own stress by taking money she didn't deserve and is now reaping what she sowed since she knew it didn't work.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#52

Post by boto3 »

rconti wrote: post #8

"Mr. Balwani, the Journal reported, told them in an email, “I am extremely irritated and frustrated by folks with no legal background taking legal positions and interpretations on these matters.” He wrote, “This must stop.” He then ordered the employees to only report to the accrediting organizations results from proficiency tests performed on conventional devices, and not the results of those tests obtained from the…

Theranos general counsel Heather King told the Journal last year that Mr. Balwani’s instructions were consistent with the company’s “alternative assessment procedures,” which it said it adopted because it believes its unique technology has no peer group and could be thrown off by the preservatives used in proficiency-testing samples.

It's really Theranoax.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#53

Post by w1ntermute »

lighttower wrote: post #44
w1ntermute wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given she was able to swindle investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't think she'll have any difficulty convincing her family not to disown her. She probably doesn't need a job, given her family's wealth, but her father is well-connected government official. I'm sure he could get her a position at some agency or other, if she really wanted one. > Elizabeth’s father, Christian IV, grew up in Californi…

Do you know for certain that she's worth millions? Aren't her stock options tied to performance? And if she has tons of stock but it goes to zero...

Her stock options are tied to whatever the Theranos board decides, and she has full board control. So she can make her options tied to whatever she wants.

No, I don't know her net worth for certain, but it isn't a stretch to say that she comes from wealth. It's a lot easier to get wealthy people to give you a ton of money if you're also wealthy.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#54

Post by geomark »

nihonde wrote: post #41
ceocoder wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is really hard to feel happy when you are poor (first hand experience), Money can buy happiness[1][2]. Conversely we do feel much joy when we see someone we envy fail, more so if we feel (rightly or not) that their success was ill deserved[3]. [1] https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WE-AA766B_HAPPY_1... - from page 12 of [2] [2] http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2013/... [3] https://blo…

I like Alain de Botton's take: money and status are essentially a proxies for love, in that people feel worthwhile if others "pay" attention/respect/cash to them. (Heavily paraphrased) Now consider that Buddhist monks are forbidden from handling money, preparing their own food, and are willingly entirely dependent on the charity of others. It is a kind of self-imposed poverty that demonstrates how much a person can a…

I'm having trouble following the jump from proxies for love to the practices of Buddhist monks. Monks don't own anything (except for their robes and alms bowl) and don't prepare their own food (and don't do many other things) in order to avoid attachments, which as we know is one of the fundamental causes of suffering and an obstacle to achieving enlightenment.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#55

Post by pfarnsworth »

markk wrote: post #13
jonknee wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She benefited greatly from a cult of personality on the way up and is now finding out it goes both ways. I myself don't feel bad for someone who enriched herself while peddling snake oil and knowingly giving junk test results to real patients . It is despicable.

I hear you, and I also don't necessarily approve of her actions. However at a human level, this is simply a human in pain (assuming she is stressed). Bear in mind, she only benefited in cash, we don't know what her experience of her life is like.

Your views show how dangerous and misguided moral relativism is, when criminals shouldn't be punished by their own guilt and stress for crimes they committed on their own volition.

Poor Elizabeth Holmes, are you suggesting we should let her off the hook because she too suffered from "affluenza"?

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#58

Post by jsprogrammer »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #5
reviseddamage wrote: post #2

I can't imagine the stress that Holmes goes through on a constant basis. There is the usual startup founder stress, but this feels like another level.

Isn't this what one deserves if one tries to peddle something that doesn't work to investors, and then gets hundreds of millions of dollars for it?

Do we know that outright fraud occurred here?

For a venture like this the investors would have been contributing only research and development funds, correct? Just because it has failed, doesn't mean that there wasn't anything worth pursuing to begin with.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#59

Post by gohrt »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #40
markk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you, and I also don't necessarily approve of her actions. However at a human level, this is simply a human in pain (assuming she is stressed). Bear in mind, she only benefited in cash, we don't know what her experience of her life is like.

That's kind of a strange response. Holmes made millions of dollars administering bogus blood tests to real patients. She had real employees. Due to her potentially wilful incompetence a lot of people are suffering. I don't believe anyone here is advocating that we inflict physical punishment on her. But hoping that she loses her company and never gets to work in the medical field again not only seems like just punish…

She'll never be poor because she came from a rich connected family before Theranos was founded.

Re: Theranos Executive to Depart Amid Regulatory Probes

#60

Post by gohrt »

w1ntermute wrote: post #53
lighttower wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know for certain that she's worth millions? Aren't her stock options tied to performance? And if she has tons of stock but it goes to zero...

Her stock options are tied to whatever the Theranos board decides, and she has full board control. So she can make her options tied to whatever she wants. No, I don't know her net worth for certain, but it isn't a stretch to say that she comes from wealth. It's a lot easier to get wealthy people to give you a ton of money if you're also wealthy.

Just about the only thing a majority shareholder cannot do is vote themselves a massive pay rise, violating their fiduciary duty to the minority shareholder's equity stakes.
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