In an email to shareholders, David Taylor, the current CEO of Theranos, announced that the company will dissolve and its remaining funds will be given to its unsecured creditors (via the Wall Street Journal). But while Theranos owes at least $60 million to its unsecured creditors, it only has around $5 million left in the bank–so not everyone will be getting their money back.
Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes was once the darling of Silicon Valley. Holmes founded the company in 2003 when she was only 19 and since had frequently been referred to as the “next Steve Jobs.” The company said its Edison devices could test for conditions such as cancer using only a few drops of blood, but it proved unreliable. After an investigation in 2015 by the Wall Street Journal into the device’s accuracy, Theranos had its clinical laboratory testing certificate revoked and a deal with Walgreens was terminated.
In 2017 the SEC found that Holmes and a partner made multiple false and misleading statements in product demonstrations, interviews, and investor presentations. The pair are now facing criminal charges for wire fraud. Theranos will begin its dissolution proceedings on September 10.
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