Tag: Theranos

by Fred Fuld III

Actually, I’m not currently reading, I just finished reading Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, and my first comment is “Wow”.  This is the story of the rise and fall of the notorious blood-testing company, Theranos, founded by Elizabeth Holmes when she was 19 years old. The company, which claimed it could do numerous tests from one drop of blood, was valued at $9 billion at one time, and now is out of business.

This is one of the most extensive and thoroughly researched books on a corporate collapse that I have ever read. Carreyrou conducted numerous interviews  and writes the book in such a way that it comes across as a real life mystery and thriller.

If you don’t know the Theranos story, that’s probably a good thing and I won’t ruin it for you by giving away a lot of the details. But those of who were duped by Holmes, according to Carreyrou, include the following:

• Steve Burd, Safeway CEO
• Wade Miquelon, CFO Walgreens
• James Mattis, current United States Secretary of Defense and a former United States Marine Corps general
• George Shultz, former Secretary of State
• Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State
• Larry Ellison, co-founder, executive chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation
• Rupert Murdock, Executive Chairman of News Corp and Executive Co-Chairman of 21st Century Fox (who invested over $100 million in the company)
• And many, many other wealthy and high level individuals

If you are looking for some “can’t put it down” reading for the fall season, I highly recommend  Bad Blood. It is the twelfth most read book according to Amazon Charts and 90% of the ratings are five stars.