The blood test startup Theranos is to be wound up. The current plan is to dissolve the company and pay out the few remaining money to creditors, it said in an email to the shareholders, as the "Wall Street Journal" ("WSJ") reported. While investors had pumped several hundred million dollars in Theranos, now could be distributed only to the five million dollars.
Theranos had promised to revolutionize blood tests: with the technology of the start-up should be sufficient for samples only a few drops. The market value of the company rose to about nine billion dollars. Holmes was celebrated as a prodigy for years and was the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. A research of the "WSJ" since 2015 but uncovered the lack of technology. On March 14, the US Securities and Exchange Commission found fraud: Holmes had collected more than $ 700 million from investors under false information.
In the dive
Thereafter, after deals with partners such as the drugstore chain Walgreens burst, Theranos got a loan from financial investor Fortress last year to at least continue to work on the technology. However, as Theranos failed to find new lenders or buyers, the company's patents should now go to Fortress. Among the investors who lost a lot of money at Theranos is also "WSJ" owner Rupert Murdoch.
As early as April 2018 Theranos dismissed after the judgment of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the majority of its workforce to prevent bankruptcy, or at least postpone.
Founder Holmes had to pay a fine of 500,000 US dollars after the judgment of the stock exchange supervision. In addition, she was replaced as the boss of the company and may no longer run a listed company in the next ten years. In June, the prosecution filed charges of fraud against Holmes and Theranos president Ramesh Balwani. Both face 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $ 250,000.