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Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

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Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#21

Post by lowken10 »

protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

My question is why isn't Elizabeth Holmes in prison? She is a disgrace.

And I was a huge fan of hers (I thought she would be a good role model for my daughter) before her crimes came to light.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#22

Post by markdavis33 »

paganel wrote: post #11
Overtonwindow wrote: post #7

Theranos seems to be an example of supreme hubris. Years from now, we will be reading amazing business school research into how a company, seemingly built on the ultimate vaporware, run by a woman who saw herself as the next Steve Jobs, collapsed due to the CEO's hubris. I think if it weren't for Holmes controlling interest she would have been let go a long time ago.

> Years from now, we will be reading amazing business school research Serious question: Is there a decent future for business schools ? Has anyone done a decent ROI calculation on them based on the financial and business results of the past 15/20 years? Are they currently on an upward trend? Downward? Stagnant? The reason I'm asking is that from half a globe away (Eastern Europe) the MBA and business school hype seem…

The Financial Times did an interesting story about this recently: https://www.ft.com/content/36942668-8ca0-11e6-8cb7-e7ada1d12...

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#23

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

leeoniya wrote: post #9
jackmott wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, why isn't the entire board, and upper management in jail?

because the board is stacked with billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state. too big to jail

>> On April 21, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that an investor had alleged that Theranos Inc. had misled company directors about its practices concerning laboratory testing. According to a lawsuit filed by the investor, Theranos had used a shell company to secretly buy lab equipment to run fake demonstrations with.

The company lied to its own board of directors and investors. I don't think they are the ones who need to be jailed.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#24

Post by Bartweiss »

protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

In all sincerity: does Theranos have anything left?

This isn't 23andMe where a viable product got caught up in legal fights over reporting. As I understood it, the fraudulent component here was "everything at all worthwhile about the product". Are they just a shell at this point, trying to use the team and leftover money as a basis for a new project? Do they have some existing offering which isn't totally valueless? What's happening here?

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#25

Post by Bartweiss »

jackmott wrote: post #4
protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

Indeed, why isn't the entire board, and upper management in jail?

Didn't they lie to the board about how/whether the tests worked? Doesn't get upper management off the hook, but I don't actually know how responsible boards are when they're being mislead.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#26

Post by mathattack »

protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

I suspect that the lawsuit thought process from Walgreen's was, "We can get a huge judgement that will put you into bankruptcy where we fight everyone else for the scraps, or we settle for something more modest and leave you with just enough money to shut down."

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#27

Post by thinkpad20 »

Bartweiss wrote: post #24
protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

In all sincerity: does Theranos have anything left? This isn't 23andMe where a viable product got caught up in legal fights over reporting. As I understood it, the fraudulent component here was "everything at all worthwhile about the product". Are they just a shell at this point, trying to use the team and leftover money as a basis for a new project? Do they have some existing offering which isn't totally valueless?…

The only thing that comes to mind is the sunk costs fallacy. Although it's hard to imagine Theranos ever becoming a success (and certainly, I won't be rooting for it), it might be harder for those who poured millions into the company to let go. That's my guess anyway.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#29

Post by zitterbewegung »

Bartweiss wrote: post #24
protomyth wrote: post #3

A company has not only totally failed in the market but employed deception which lead to a lawsuit, my question is how do they have any money left at all? Isn't this such a miss that whatever was left should just be returned to investors and the company close down. Does anyone have a scenario where this company becomes viable?

In all sincerity: does Theranos have anything left? This isn't 23andMe where a viable product got caught up in legal fights over reporting. As I understood it, the fraudulent component here was "everything at all worthwhile about the product". Are they just a shell at this point, trying to use the team and leftover money as a basis for a new project? Do they have some existing offering which isn't totally valueless?…

I thought your comment was true 6 months ago and said something similar. I don't think anyone can answer your question until we see the HN post with the title: "Theranos closes" and we read about the postmortem if one will exist.
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