Forbes cuts estimated wealth of 'billionaire' Theranos founder to $0
Forbes, the publisher of seemingly countless lists of the world’s billionaires, is patting itself on the back for seeing through the hype about the blood-testing company Theranos and its glamorous 32-year-old founder, Elizabeth Holmes. In connection with the release Wednesday of its second annual list of America’s richest self-made women, it cut the estimate of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion—the tally that placed her at the very summit of the list last year – to zero.
In doing so, however, Forbes unwittingly exposed the essential fatuousness of such lists.The question Forbes should answer is how Holmes got listed in the first place.
The magazine’s estimate of Holmes’ wealth was based then, as now, on the putative value of her company, of which she owns 50%. But Theranos is private, so the valuation of her company, which was pegged last year at $9 billion, always was suspect.
Forbes bought heavily into the hype until the Theranos story began to fray with an expose late last year by the Wall Street Journal. It now turns out that the finger-prick technology that Theranos claimed would revolutionize the blood-testing industry and healthcare in general hasn’t been shown to work.
more
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fo-hiltzik-forbes-theranos-20160601-snap-story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
