On the front page of Thursday’s Wall Street Journal is this article, which is another absolutely superb piece by multiple-Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Carreyrou. I strongly, strongly encourage you to read it, but I wanted to say a few remarks about it on my own.
As everyone knows, Theranos has become a complete disaster and an embarrassment. The 
megalomaniac founder, Elizabeth Holmes, claimed a net worth of nearly $5 billion a couple of years ago, and this net worth is now reported to be $0 billion. John Carreyrou has done a yeoman’s job bringing The Truth out about this despicable organization and its husky-voiced, completely fake CEO who was given a huge pass by the public (like Hillary Clinton) because she’s a……….woman. God knows Mr. Carreyrou deserves a third Pulitzer prize for his superb journalism.
Just as heroic, however, is former Theranos employee Tyler Shultz, the grandson of 95-year old George Shultz, of Reagan administration fame. I used to kind of look up to the old fellow, but the way he treated his grandson, who acted with honor and ethical integrity, is revolting.
That actually goes for the entire crew of ancient old white men who populated the Board of Directors, whose principal motivation, I suspect, was to stare at the mildly attractive young woman, fifty years their junior, who ran the place. You know. The new Steve Jobs. That one. Because she wore a black turtleneck.
As for Tyler Shultz, here was a kid who wanted to do the right thing, and he was beaten down, harassed, intimidated, threatened, and compelled to spend $400,000 of his and his parents’ cash to defend himself legally. If there’s a God in heaven, this young man and his parents will be awarded tens of millions of dollars in the end. It would be especially nice if scumbag lawyer David Boies were on the hook for a part of that, but he’ll slime out of any responsibility, I suspect. Lawyers would sell their own mothers if it made them extra cash. The lowest form of humans, definitely.
I don’t know why Theranos is even bothering to exist anymore. The reputation is completely trashed. Elizabeth Holmes has become the laughingstock of the business world. They are buried in government lawsuits, civil lawsuits, and a phalanx of investors howling for their blood.
Indeed, I must confess an admiration for Ms. Holmes that she hasn’t blown her head off with a shotgun already. Her life must be absolutely miserable now, unless she is so deluded that she thinks she and Theranos are somehow going to emerge victorious from this mess. They won’t. She has failed, and she will eventually be forced to recognize her failure as a person and her failure as a business……..woman.
As for their form CEO, Sunny Balwani (“Sunny” – how’s that for ironic?), it seems fitting that he was associated with an organization whose business was sticking a needle into you to draw blood……….because the man sounds like a real prick.
Once again, I heartily encourage you to read the article. I will cheer if the day comes that Theranos is shuttered in disgrace and bankruptcy, and Holmes is thrown into prison (or, as mentioned earlier, blows her head off with a shotgun or another weapon of her choice). The entire sordid story is a dreadful tale of how corrupt organizations can try to berate innocent do-gooders into abandoning their cause.
God bless you, Tyler Shultz. You are a good man, and I wish you all the good fortune in the world. You deserve our admiration.
