October 5, 2017

Theranos: When Smart People do Stupid Things

The Wall Street Journal continues to report on the saga of Theranos, the former Silicon Valley darling that continues its epic self-immolation.

On March 24, Christopher Weaver and John Carreyrou reported that Theranos is offering investors additional shares in return for an agreement not to sue the company or its founder, the disgraced Elizabeth Holmes. According to the article, Rupert Murdoch didn’t like the deal and decided to sell his stake, for which he paid $125M in 2015, back to the company for $1.

I’d wager that when this is over, Theranos will be worthless. If I’m right, Murdoch got $1 more than his stake was worth.

People will be writing books about this for the next decade.

Words
of Praise

What differentiates Mike is his effort to understand the role and the company before he starts the search. This gave him the insight to attract qualified and interested candidates. He did a fantastic job keeping me, and our CEO, aware of his progress along the way. Most importantly the search was a success.

— David Lester, VP, Global Human Resources, Taconic Biosciences