Diary of a Madwoman

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For me, the highlight of the must-delayed Theranos trial this week was the release of some of Elizabeth Holmes’ notes to herself during the throes of 2015. This is a business diary, it seems, and she appears to be coaching herself through the early fissures of her soon-to-be-ruined empire. Let’s partake, shall we?

Certain platforms – so fabulous – regular people… (Cramer) – Sorkin – mad man – tough

Ah, yes, Cramer. A regular person. He did the cloying Female Billionaires Changing the World segment. That Cramer. I guess she was only fond of “journalists” who sang her praises. She goes on………..

Board statement – independent look at accusations by board – making statements – no independent opinion. Unwise board – enter – without judgement –  Strategic mistake – WSJ – impression – fight – number accusations – made

Honest, this sounds more like the draft work of e.e. cummings than a broke-through-the-glass-ceiling superstar who is going to save humanity. But she isn’t done:

Weak accusations – endorses everything – happened – if – true – raise doubt – want – board looks into it – finds nothing to any of it – looked into it – have not looked at it independently. Haven’t addressed – doesn’t shake my confidence – my business judgement – no reason – this announcement – know a month from now – business judgement correct at the time. Never for sure.

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Ka-blooie!

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So is this whole SPAC fraud trend over? Is it dead? It sure should be. Lordstown Motors, which I’ve written about numerous times (and spoken about even more) is looking like the Theranos of electric car companies (joining the likes of Nikola). The CEO and CFO have fled the scene this morning, which the company hilariously portrays as a “Leadership Realignment.” Here’s what RIDE looked like when the SPAC fad was hot:

slopechart RIDE
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A Smidgen of Sanity

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Remember when Theranos was in its final death-throes, and out of the blue, a company named Fortress Capital threw them a $100 million lifeline? That drove me nuts, because what was supposed to happen (Theranos blowing up) got stopped. But it didn’t last. Fortress lost their empty-headed investment and Theranos resumed its self-destruction.

I felt the same way we I heard that WeWork was going public (!!!!!!!!!) by way of a SPAC company whose symbol is BOWX. It’s nice to see this morning a big red bar, and I strongly suspect before this year is over we’ll see plenty more. The fact that these two shameless grifters got crazy-rich off this little enterprise boggles the mind.

bowx
Nice gums, Rebekka.
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