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Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

wsj.com

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Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#31

Post by philipov »

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?…

They're a zombie, but having a large cash reserve in one spot is capital, and capital keeps a business running, hunting for brains. Maybe they should reinvent themselves as a hedge fund.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#32

Post by georgeecollins »

lowken10 wrote: post #21
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.

In case you were in a coma 2008-2009, the US justice system likes to settle with corporations, but almost never actually tries to convict white collar criminals. Here is a whole book subtitled "Why the justice department fails to prosecute executives."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBZFQR2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

It is very well reviewed.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#33

Post by swamp40 »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #8
jackmott wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Have you looked at their board? It's basically the ultra-elite. How would you even go after James Mattis? It's kind of sad but a brilliant illustration of how much money can protect you. Theranos the company will fail but Theranos the people will be fine, except for the whistleblower that is.

Mattis resigned from the board in 2016.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#34

Post by rgbrenner »

philipov wrote: post #31
Bartweiss wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?…

They're a zombie, but having a large cash reserve in one spot is capital, and capital keeps a business running, hunting for brains. Maybe they should reinvent themselves as a hedge fund.

No one would put money into a hedge fund run by holmes. Would you trust her with your money?

She stinks of fraud already. If she told me the fund was doing great, I would get suspicious that she was turning into the next bernie madoff.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#35

Post by futun »

georgeecollins wrote: post #32
lowken10 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In case you were in a coma 2008-2009, the US justice system likes to settle with corporations, but almost never actually tries to convict white collar criminals. Here is a whole book subtitled "Why the justice department fails to prosecute executives." https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBZFQR2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... It is very well reviewed.

Exactly this. White collar crime is typically punishable by a fraction of one's winnings -- if it is even stopped at all.

In other words, white collar crime is an attractive business model.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#36

Post by chongli »

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…

Is there a decent future for business schools?

Yes, as long as you understand their purpose. They exist as a form of class signalling. [0] Many of the older forms of nepotism/cronyism have been made illegal. Racial and IQ discrimination are also illegal. Therefore, business schools and law schools fill the gap. They exist to tell an employer that the applicant is either a member of their class or an ally.

[0] http://lesswrong.com/lw/did/what_is_signaling_really/

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#37

Post by swamp40 »

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

  >> *billionaires, former senators and secretaries of state*
Those people are all gone from the board now.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#38

Post by rgbrenner »

swamp40 wrote: post #33
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked at their board? It's basically the ultra-elite. How would you even go after James Mattis? It's kind of sad but a brilliant illustration of how much money can protect you. Theranos the company will fail but Theranos the people will be fine, except for the whistleblower that is.

Mattis resigned from the board in 2016.

He joined in 2013.. this story broke in oct 2015 in the wsj. And he resigned in December (along with other boards he was on) to join the trump admin.

So there's an open question about when he knew about this fraud. But clearly he didn't have a problem staying on even after it became public knowledge.

And there's also this:

In 2012, for instance, Holmes began talking to the Department of Defense about using Theranos’s technology on the battlefield in Afghanistan. But specialists at the D.O.D. soon uncovered that the technology wasn’t entirely accurate, and that it had not been vetted by the Food and Drug Administration. When the department notified the F.D.A. that something was amiss, according to The Washington Post, Holmes contacted Marine general James Mattis, who had initiated the pilot program. He immediately e-mailed his colleagues about moving the project forward. Mattis was later added to the company board when he retired from the service. (Mattis says he never tried to interfere with the F.D.A. but rather was “interested in rapidly having the company’s technologies tested legally and ethically.”)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-the...

So he was told by the DOD that it didn't work after he initiated a pilot program for Theranos.. and continued to push it internally.

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#39

Post by patrickg_zill »

cat199 wrote: post #16
jackmott wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

dig deep.. see also the board and Ian Gibbons suicide.. The whole thing smacks of an outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare and elsewhere via pharmacy blood testing fees..

"outright fraud to skim funds from obamacare"

You just described the business model of about 1/8th of all companies operating in the US healthcare business...

Re: Theranos Low on Cash After Settlement with Walgreens

#40

Post by unknown_apostle »

rgbrenner wrote: post #34
philipov wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a zombie, but having a large cash reserve in one spot is capital, and capital keeps a business running, hunting for brains. Maybe they should reinvent themselves as a hedge fund.

No one would put money into a hedge fund run by holmes. Would you trust her with your money? She stinks of fraud already. If she told me the fund was doing great, I would get suspicious that she was turning into the next bernie madoff.

You would think so, but:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meriwether

"A year after LTCM's collapse, in 1999, Meriwether founded JWM Partners LLC. (...) Meriwether opened his third hedge fund venture, named JM Advisors Management, also based in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 2010."

Meriwether blows up and is not a fraud. But then there's this guy:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jon-corzine-considers-launching...

Though in all fairness I don't know whether he pulled that one off.

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