Series: Sometimes The Rich Get Poorer


There are many false assumptions in life that go unchallenged. One of the more commonly held ones is the notion that the Rich Get Richer and the Poor get Poorer. In recent years there is the propagated myth of the "1%". which refers to some enduring wealthy class that maintains its elite status-then there is reality.

That reality isn't lost on former business world superstar Elizabeth Holmes. Just one year ago, her blood testing company Theranos, was on top of the world. Theranos had allegedly developed a faster more efficient blood testing technology which would only require a finger prick. It had 500 employees and was valued at $9 billion. Making the Stanford drop out the worlds youngest female self made billionaire with a 50% stake worth $4.5 billion. Soon questions began to swirl after media reports cast doubt about the accuracy of her supposedly innovative testing machines. The charge was that only 15 of 240 test Theranos offers are from their flagship Edison testing machines The negative publicity drew the attention of federal regulators which banned Theranos from testing for two years. The stock price soon plummeted and in October of 2016 Theranos laid off 340 employees. The billionaire and Forbes magazine cover girl's net worth soon dropped to zero! Making her stay in the mythical world of the 1% undoubtedly one of the shortest in history. Theranos isn't dead yet as it plans to retool their machines to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration. First it will have to beat back lawsuits from several venture capital firms whose investments were decimated. There is another cliché' worth mentioning: More money more problems.

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