Forbes Revises Estimated Net Worth of Theranos Founder to $0
forbes.com
forbes.com
Forbes did absolutely _nothing_ to actually expose Theranos, instead they added to the never-ending hype-machine that the media heaped on to Theranos. So now they've joined the never-ending dance over Theranos' grave.
Just a good reminder of how much of an echo chamber media coverage tends to be nowadays.
Journalism is bad, but it's unlikely Forbes would simply forget half the company is still worth something.
What the press (including Forbes) SHOULD HAVE done, was ask Holmes and Theranos difficult questions years ago, instead of functioning as PR outlets. They didn't do that. That's what the press is SUPPOSED to do, not just pile on like an angry mob with a soapbox.
Their responsibility is to break the story, not follow it.
That's about the most generous way of possibly framing it. She apparently deceived investors, the media, and the public, potentially putting people's health at risk in the process. And this deception made her one of the richest people in the world, at least on paper. Like it or not, it's a pretty big story and it will be reported on.
If this were an middle-aged white man of privilege, the same people wouldn't rest until he was sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff
I'm struggling to decide whether such a conspiracy theory is best described as "lunacy" or "cuckoo." Neither is strong enough.
She is a white person of privilege. Her entire story is one of privilege, of using her connections to ascend to stratospheric heights. And all the while, she and her backers have been perpetrating a fraud involving people's health.
I think that if you actually talk to people who care about "white middle-aged men of privilege," you will find that they are disgusted by what she has perpetrated.
If you are going to make claims about the people who ask us to "stop picking on her," I think the onus is on you to demonstrate that these same people would have a different perspective if she was middle-aged and male.
Heck, can they even support this new $0 number? They're saying Theranos has raised $724,000,000. Elizabeth Holmes didn't take any money off the table?