Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't

Joseph B.  Fuller; John   Masko

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2019 (Revised September 2019)

Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't

Abstract

In 2003, 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes founded a startup dedicated to making blood testing easier and more affordable. By 2015, her company, Theranos, was worth $9 billion. It boasted a star-studded board and contracts with national pharmacy and supermarket chains Walgreens and Safeway to bring Theranos technology, which could purportedly perform hundreds of tests with a pinprick of blood, to consumers around the country. Over the next few years, however, Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou published a series of articles demonstrating that Theranos’ proprietary technology produced inaccurate results, relied heavily on non-proprietary devices to perform its tests, and violated multiple regulatory standards. In 2018, after a three-year stream of revelations about the company’s operating practices, corporate culture, and technology, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Theranos with fraud and the company soon collapsed.

Keywords: Theranos; blood; lab testing; fraud; Holmes; Balwani; Shultz; Carreyrou; Securities and Exchange Commission; Food and Drug Administration; FDA; SEC; Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry;

Language: English

Format: Print

33 pages

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Citation:

Fuller, Joseph B., and John Masko. "Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't." Harvard Business School Case 319-068, February 2019. (Revised September 2019.)

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Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019

Shell: A Company of Opportunity?

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