Theranos Inc., the blood-testing company accused of perpetrating Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud, will soon cease to exist.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/blood-testing-firm-theranos-to-dissolve-1536115130?mod=hp_lead_pos1
I feel like the magic leap might beat them in terms of bullshit.
Magic leap took in some ridiculous amount of capital investment, like $2.3B, and has produced a fairly crappy set of ar goggles.
I am surprised Theranos lasted this long but frankly its good to see the company die. It had no value to anyone.
With Magic Leap at least they have something that works (I havent tried it myself) although I agree with you, I have no idea how they can ever generate value in line with that kind of investment. I guess the hail mary of “hope for a Facebook miracle” like Oculus is the business plan?
Incidentally, this recent book is a pretty good, light overview of the main types of financial fraud, why they continue to happen, and a potted history of some of the more interesting ones.
I assume many here know the book, but for those few who don’t and are interested in what was going on at Theranos, this is a must.
Was written by the journalist behind the WSJ reporting (and also the WSJ article linked by Navaronegun) that kinda initiated the downward spiral of the company. Really gripping read, and I’m guessing it’ll get an update in the next edition given the company news and depending on the outcome of the lawsuit against Holmes.
Bad Blood is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Tesla Inc.’s TSLA -6.30% share price sank to near its lowest point for the year Friday after the electric-car maker lost more executives and Chief Executive Elon Musk appeared to smoke marijuana during an interview streamed on the web.
Dave Morton, touted by Tesla in late July as part of “key new talent” hired after a spell of executive departures, said Friday in a filing that he left because the public attention on the company and its pace were too much. Tesla also confirmed that Gabrielle Toledano, its head of human resources, wouldn’t rejoin Tesla after her leave of absence.
Continues at above link…
I give him a pass on the weed. The rest, very bad. I think he maybe having a very public breakdown.
I wouldn’t. At a g******** m********** interview while your company is on shaky ground!? You are the boss trying to inspire confidence, not a dude hanging at a cocktail party. I don’t care if it was Bill Kristol or Joe Rogan doing the interview. It’s either the height of unprofessionalism (or as you put it, the depths of a nervous breakdown) given the current circumstances of the company.
Once again, it ain’t about the thing. It’s about the overall context.
Edit- I put a better song up there with the article,.
I get ya, I suppose yeah it makes things worse, but if it wasnt for the other series of blunders he has made recently there would be nothing to make worse.
Exactly. Was this the time to do a “quirky” interview on Joe Rogan and spark up? After you have caused a bevy of talent departures and have tanked your stock prices to record lows? While analysts are asking fundamental questions about your business model and your ability to actually deliver product that you have (theoretically) paid for? While you have shaken investor confidence to the core by threatening publicly to go private? And then publicly failing, proving private capital firms have no faith in your business model? While under SEC investigation?
Oooh, this really DOES sound bad. :)
I would pile on his petulant behavior around Thailand tragedy. I think that was a turning point for many people.
FWIW I follow tesla VERY closely (I hold a lot of stock), and the ‘public’ stuff that ends up on BBC, CNN etc as opposed to the real financial details are so cherry picked its ridiculous. I’ve never seen a company so misleadingly reported by apparently ‘sane’ journalists.
There is a real, amazing, and absolutely industry-revolutionizing story happening around tesla right now, and so many very loud, very wealthy people stand to lose literally billions as a result, that the FUD and bullshit machine is working overtime.
In a years time, looking back at how angry a few people were about elon trying some weed will seem hilarious.
Well, I think the Journal’s reporting has been very solid on the financials. I don’t invest my cash on faith or promises of revolutionary change. I do it for a return on my investment. But that being said, have at it. I hope you reap what you desire from your investment, and prove me, the WSJ and the Analysts wrong.
Tesla makes a good product, but years of overpromising and underdelivering combined with years of failing to scale up are eventually going to come home to roost. If that’s the background, and you add to it the very real perception that your CEO is a crazy person, watch out.
The weed is one thing. Making unsubstantiated statements about go-private transactions at a massive premium to the market price is another. He’s going to be lucky if he isn’t prosecuted for that.
the august numbers for the tesla model 3 are way higher than people think, and the competition is a joke, both in numbers and product. The time to crush Tesla was in the roadster days but nobody took them seriously.
Yesterday evening, without any mainstream coverage, they announced their new effective COO and other new managers to work alongside Elon. This was the move all the critics demanded for the last 18 months. The did it yesterday and the financial media ignored it.
I’m already hugely up on my tesla stock, but i certainly dont think its time to sell.
From the above article:
Later on Friday, Mr. Musk announced in a memo to employees several high-level promotions, including installing veteran Tesla manager Jerome Guillen as president of automotive. The newly created position could help bolster leadership in manufacturing and relieve some of the day-to-day pressure on Mr. Musk, who had taken direct control of these areas earlier this year.
Then later…
In an email before Mr. Musk’s Friday afternoon memo, Mr. Gerber said Mr. Musk at least appeared happy in the interview, countering a narrative that he is personally struggling. “I’m just not happy the [board of directors] is not announcing executives being added to support Tesla,” he said. “They need someone solid for perception ASAP.”
Later in the day, Mr. Gerber said Friday’s news of promotions appeared to address his concerns.
If you read it, you’ll see that analysts:
1.) Still think the August number projections are BS.
2.) Are still aghast by the whole go-private fiasco.
3.) Are somewhat eased on the management/departures issue by the snippet I posted above.
‘analysts’ of tesla are generally clueless. The Goldamn dude who got so much coverage has a negative tipranks score, meaning you would lose money if you copied his advice, and actually be better off if you asked your dog for investment advice.
Heres an example of the kind of data people are desperately trying to ignore:
I don’t buy / hold / trade individual stocks, so I have no axe to grind either way, but it seems to me unlikely that financial analysts as a class are unable or unwilling to understand Tesla’s value, or are secretly motivated to bash it.
