The Theranos Story, ch. 56: Bye, bye Theranos…but the litigation continues (updated)

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Rock-1-crop-2.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]No more blood in this rock. Really. Theranos, according to a report by John Carreyrou in the Wall Street Journal (unfortunately paywalled) is dissolving. An email to shareholders by (short-lived) Chief Executive David Taylor informed them that the company will cease to exist soon, and that whatever remaining cash will be distributed to unsecured creditors in coming months. The email also added that Theranos made overtures to more than 80 potential buyers through Jefferies Group, but despite 17 NDA’s signed, none succeeded. 

The dissolution process will start on Monday, pending approval by the board and shareholders. 

The shareholders’ letter is available here (PDF) including the rationale on dissolution versus bankruptcy.

Over $60 million was owed to unsecured creditors but there was evidently only $5 million (net of expenses and fees) left in the kitty to distribute, which may be enough to buy lunch or copies of ‘Bad Blood’ for most. That is because Fortress Investment Group now has full control of the assets and intellectual property. Part of Japan’s SoftBank Group, Fortress invested $65 million in Theranos in December 2017 of a possible $100 million, collateralized by the patent portfolio. [TTA 28 Dec 17] At the time of the Holmes/Balwani indictments by the DOJ in June (nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy), reports indicated that Theranos would shutter by the end of July.

The few remaining employees were reportedly given notice last Friday. The website is offline. No one from Theranos is speaking to media. This Editor wonders what the shareholders from the $600 million funding round [TTA 18 May 17] will do with their doubled shares–presumably, use the paper as firestarter in their fireplaces this winter along with their printed selfies with Ms. Holmes. (Fear not, they will be receiving a copy of the certificate of dissolution to give to their accountant and IRS.) 

At the time of the Fortress investment, this Editor wrote:

Our takeaway is that the IP is worth far more than the company and that is what has been bought. SoftBank would dearly like another entree into Silicon Valley for their tech portfolio and can use that IP, if not at Theranos, elsewhere. For Fortress, which has $36.1 billion in assets under management and now backed by SoftBank, $100 million is pocket change with a smidge of lint.

One wonders what SoftBank and Fortress will be doing with that IP.

Theranos will not be leaving the headlines soon, as the June indictment of Holmes and Balwani (who was pushed out by Holmes in 2016) and the sidelights produced by their ‘Tainted Love’ will provide schadenfreude for many months.

Reports: Reuters, CNBC (video-Squawk Box), USA Today, TechCrunch  Our 55 chapters chronicling the slow-motion crash of Theranos can be accessed here.