Re:We Shouldn’t Be Surprised at the Theranos Fraud
by mhneu on Thursday June 07, 2018 @08:47AM
(#17255258)
Carreyrou wrote a book. This story was going to get out anyway.
Murdoch is a very skilled propagandist. He knew that trying to suppress this story would have backfired on him. Especially because the machines don’t work and because Walgreens would have soon learned the truth.
Nothing hurts a propagandist more than being really caught in an obvious lie. To protect his ability to slant the WSJ, Murdoch couldn’t have gotten caught suppressing this story. And he would have gotten caught if he tried.
Re:We Shouldn’t Be Surprised at the Theranos Fraud
by tptacek on Thursday June 07, 2018 @11:14AM
(#17256491)
Again, I'm not giving Murdoch any credit, but simply pointing out that Theranos clearly did not control News Corp.
Re:We Shouldn’t Be Surprised at the Theranos Fraud
by jlj on Thursday June 07, 2018 @02:20AM
(#17253715)
Were his losses insured or recovered somehow after the collapse? Or was the investor money all gone by then?
Re:We Shouldn’t Be Surprised at the Theranos Fraud
by sjburt on Thursday June 07, 2018 @09:02AM
(#17255366)
Not publishing the story wouldn't have saved Murdoch's $125m. The story just reflected the truth of the matter, which was that the company had nothing and never did.
Re:We Shouldn’t Be Surprised at the Theranos Fraud
by jlj on Friday June 08, 2018 @10:43AM
(#17265878)
Speculating that he might have lost less than $125 million by publishing the story. How much of the investment was recovered or it's that still TBD?
Once the fraud was exposed and the company began winding down, spending would quickly slow down and that might have put investors in a better position to recover something, versus loosing everything.
As Carreyrou reports, Theranos definitely tried to pull strings with Murdoch, and apparently got nowhere with it. The WSJ timed the story to hit right before Holmes was set to appear at a major WSJ business conference.