Theranos

Extracted Attributes

• Status

  Dissolved (September 2018)

• Founded

  2003-01-01

• Founder

  Elizabeth Holmes

• Key Product

  Edison (automated blood testing device)

• Headquarters

  Palo Alto, California, United States

• Total Funding

  700,000,000 USD

• Peak Valuation

  9,000,000,000 USD

Timeline

• Theranos is founded by 19-year-old Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes in Palo Alto, California. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2003-01-01

• The company raises more than $6 million from investors at a $30 million valuation. (Source: Web Search)

  2004-12-31

• Theranos raises an additional $45 million, reaching a valuation of $1 billion. (Source: Web Search)

  2010-12-31

• Chief scientist Ian Gibbons commits suicide amid pressures and legal disputes at the company. (Source: Britannica)

  2013-05-01

• Theranos reaches its peak valuation of $9 billion after raising over $400 million. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-01-01

• John Carreyrou publishes an investigative report in The Wall Street Journal questioning the validity of Theranos's technology. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2015-10-15

• The SEC charges Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani with 'massive fraud' for deceiving investors. (Source: SEC Press Release)

  2018-03-14

• Theranos announces it will formally dissolve and liquidate its remaining assets. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2018-09-04

• Elizabeth Holmes is convicted on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-01-03

• Sunny Balwani is convicted on all 12 counts of fraud brought against him. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-07-07

• Elizabeth Holmes is sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-11-18

• Sunny Balwani is sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2022-12-07

Theranos

Theranos Inc. () was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $9 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that could be performed rapidly and accurately, while requiring very small amounts of blood, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. These claims were proven to be false. A turning point came in 2015, when medical research professor John Ioannidis, and later professor of clinical biochemistry Eleftherios Diamandis, along with investigative journalist John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal, questioned the validity of Theranos's technology. The company faced a string of legal and commercial challenges from medical authorities, investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), state attorneys general, former business partners, patients, and others. By June 2016, Forbes estimated that Holmes's personal net worth had dropped from $4.5 billion to "nothing". After several years of struggle, lawsuits, and sanctions from CMS, what remained of the company was dissolved in September 2018. Theranos, Holmes and former company president Sunny Balwani were charged with fraud by the SEC in 2018. Holmes and Balwani were also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, with Holmes being found guilty on four counts in January 2022 and sentenced that November to 11 years and 3 months in prison. Balwani was convicted on all 12 counts brought against him in July 2022, and in December 2022 was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months in prison and 3 years of probation.

Web Search Results

• Theranos - Wikipedia

  Theranos Inc. (/ˈθɛr.ən.oʊs/) was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $9 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. The company claimed that it had devised blood tests that could be performed rapidly and accurately, while requiring very small amounts of blood, all using compact automated devices that the company had developed. These claims were proven to be false. [...] In April 2017, lawyers for Partner Investments LP and two other funds, with combined stakes totaling more than $96 million in Theranos preferred shares, charged that Theranos had threatened to seek bankruptcy protection if the investors did not agree to accept additional stock equity in lieu of litigation. Theranos officials said the funds had mischaracterized the exchange offer, which was discussed before the suit was filed. The suit also alleged that Theranos had misled company directors about its practices concerning laboratory testing and that it had secretly bought lab equipment to run fake demonstrations. On May 1, 2017, Theranos announced that it had reached an undisclosed settlement with Partner Fund Management LP (PFM). Theranos's General Counsel, David Taylor, stated: "Theranos [...] Theranos raised millions of dollars in its first years. In 2004, Theranos was based in a rented basement near the Stanford campus. By December 2004, the company had raised more than $6 million from investors at a valuation of $30 million. The company had about $45 million total fundraising after Series B and Series C funding in 2006. Theranos raised an additional $45 million in 2010 at a valuation of $1 billion. The company had significant news coverage starting in September 2013 after profiles in the San Francisco Business Times and The Wall Street Journal. By 2014, Theranos had raised more than $400 million with an estimated value of $9 billion. Theranos raised more than $700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013

• Everything you need to know about the Theranos scandal

  In 2014, Theranos, a blood-testing startup pitching a supposedly revolutionary technology, was flying high. While existing technology required one vial of blood for each diagnostic test conducted, Theranos claimed to be able to perform hundreds of tests (supposedly over 240) ranging from cholesterol levels to complex genetic analysis, with just a single pinprick of blood. Automated, fast and inexpensive, Theranos seemed to be offering technology that could revolutionize medicine and save lives the world over. [...] Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, had famously dropped out of Stanford to found the company using her tuition money, and was just 30 when Theranos was at its peak. Having raised over $700m in investment from the likes of Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, the company had become the rising star of Silicon Valley and was valued at over $9 billion, while Holmes, with a share of more than half that, was heralded as the female Steve Jobs. The only problem? The technology didn’t work. [...] Thanks in large part to the information from Theranos whistleblowers, John was able to publish his report in The Wall Street Journal, revealing that Theranos was not using its own technology to run the majority of its tests due to the inefficiency of its own technology. FDA investigations ensued and all that was written in John’s report was proven correct. The reaction from Theranos was astonishing. At first, Holmes vehemently denied the claims made against her and the company. Theranos even threatened to sue John himself who became a perceived enemy to the company, with some Theranos employees even chanting ‘Fuck you Carreyrou’.

• [PDF] Case Study: Theranos and Elisabeth Holmes1 - UPF-BSM

  of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for certain blood tests, including the tests for calcium, chloride, potassium, bicarbonate, HIV, Hba1C, hCG, and sodium. The defendants nevertheless used interstate electronic wires to purchase advertisements intended to induce individuals to purchase Theranos blood tests at Walgreens stores in California and Arizona. Through these advertisements, the defendants explicitly represented to individuals that Theranos’s blood tests were cheaper than blood tests from conventional laboratories to induce individuals to purchase Theranos’s blood tests. According to the indictment, the defendants also allegedly made numerous misrepresentations to potential investors about Theranos’s financial condition and its future prospects. For example, [...] and induce doctors and patients to use Theranos’s blood testing laboratory services, even though, according to the government, the defendants knew Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for certain blood tests. It is further alleged that the tests performed on Theranos technology were likely to contain inaccurate and unreliable results. The indictment alleges that Holmes and Balwani defrauded doctors and patients (1) by making false claims concerning Theranos’s ability to provide accurate, fast, reliable, and cheap blood tests and test results, and (2) by omitting information concerning the limits of and problems with Theranos’s technologies. The defendants knew Theranos was not capable of consistently producing accurate and reliable results for [...] 1 Case Study: Theranos and Elisabeth Holmes1 Introduction The Theranos scandal, one of the most notorious in the tech and healthcare industries, serves as a pivotal study in ethical and financial misconduct. This case study underscores the importance of ethical integrity, the necessity for robust regulatory frameworks, and the dangers of allowing charismatic leadership to override sound scientific and financial principles. Through discussing these questions, students can gain insights into preventing or mitigating similar ethical failures in their future careers. History Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford dropout, founded Theranos in 2003 with the vision of revolutionizing blood testing technology. The company claimed its technology could quickly conduct comprehensive tests with just a few drops

• Theranos, Inc. | Company, Elizabeth Holmes, Scandal, & Legal Fallout

  Theranos produced its first offering in 2014, a laboratory testing process that claimed to run more than 1,000 medical tests on a sample of only a few drops of blood. It was a technology that would revolutionize medical data collection—if it worked. Theranos’s promotional materials—created by marketing professionals including Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris, internationally renowned photographer Martin Schoeller, and the high-profile advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, whose clients include Apple and McDonald’s—maintained that the company was improving laboratory blood collection and testing by miniaturizing and automating the process. [...] Theranos, Inc., medical diagnostic company founded in 2003 by Stanford University dropout and entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes that was later revealed to have falsified its data and inflated its claims. Holmes was charged with 11 counts of fraud, and the company shut down in 2018. ## Founding, mission, and the Edison machine [...] Carreyrou also revealed that Theranos scientist Ian Gibbons had committed suicide in 2013 after struggling with the pressures of working for Holmes, adding a tragic note to growing suspicion surrounding the company. Other questions concerning the company and its secretive processes soon surfaced, ranging from Theranos’s decision to release aggregate testing data (which could obscure statistical shortcomings more effectively than primary testing data) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to compliance problems with the company’s Newark, California, laboratory. Theranos was also under scrutiny for substantial delays in giving federal authorities full access to its medical devices and in subjecting its devices and technologies to scientific peer review.

• SEC: Theranos, CEO Holmes, Balwani Charged With Fraud

  The complaints allege that Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani made numerous false and misleading statements in investor presentations, product demonstrations, and media articles by which they deceived investors into believing that its key product – a portable blood analyzer – could conduct comprehensive blood tests from finger drops of blood, revolutionizing the blood testing industry. In truth, according to the SEC’s complaint, Theranos’ proprietary analyzer could complete only a small number of tests, and the company conducted the vast majority of patient tests on modified and industry-standard commercial analyzers manufactured by others. [...] Search SEC.gov & EDGAR Search More in this Section Newsroom Press Releases Speeches & Statements Meetings & Events SEC Videos Social Media Directory What's New Newsroom Press Releases Speeches & Statements Meetings & Events SEC Videos Social Media Directory What's New 1. Home 2. Newsroom 3. Press Releases 4. Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged With Massive Fraud Press Release Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged With Massive Fraud Holmes Stripped of Control of Company for Defrauding Investors For Immediate Release 2018-41 Washington D.C., March 14, 2018 — [...] 2018-41 Washington D.C., March 14, 2018 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Silicon Valley-based private company Theranos Inc., its founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, and its former President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani with raising more than $700 million from investors through an elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance. Theranos and Holmes have agreed to resolve the charges against them. Importantly, in addition to a penalty, Holmes has agreed to give up majority voting control over the company, as well as to a reduction of her equity which, combined with shares she previously returned, materially reduces her equity stake.

• Country

  United States

• Founder

  Elizabeth Holmes

• Located In

  San Francisco

• Instance Of

  Q783794

• Headquarters

  Palo Alto

• Inception Date

  1/1/2003