Elizabeth Holmes' net worth has dropped to zero on the Forbes list of Americas' Richest Self-Made Women ever since her controversial Theranos scandal.
The founder and former CEO of Theranos originally started out as a promising entrepreneur worth $4.5 billion. However, experts later deliberated that her fortune was nothing more than an elaborate scam.
In 2003, Holmes promised a new and revolutionary way of testing blood. Her company claimed it had the ability to detect major medical conditions like cancer, diabetes and high cholesterol through drops of blood from a pinprick. It would ideally spare people who are horrified by syringe needles.
Unfortunately, both Holmes and her company failed to live up to expectations.
Elizabeth Holmes Net Worth: The Theranos Scam
At its peak season, Holmes and Theranos enjoyed unprecedented fame. They were a major topic for books, podcasts and TV shows. Holmes envisioned Theranos to be worth $9 billion, and she promised that that company could generate $1 billion in revenue by 2015. Many investors flocked over at the promise of big profits.
However, Theranos never accomplished its objectives. It never sold profitably on the market as it had claimed. By 2016, a few experts felt suspicious and re-evaluated Theranos' market value.
Forbes consulted a dozen venture capitalists and analysts about Theranos. They listed three main issues about the health technology company.
- Theranos market and research activities are unknown. Except for Holmes' $9 billion valuations, everything about the company was kept confidential.
- Theranos did not deliver. Holmes promised market activity by 2015, but Theranos never submitted research for its findings even in 2016. On the contrary, the Food and Drug Administration reportedly restricted Theranos' finger-stick operations.
- Theranos' target market does not exist. Theranos aims to replace traditional testing, but it cannot compete against incumbent industries like Laboratory Corp of America.
Taking all these reasons into consideration, Forbes reassessed Theranos' realistic value to be $800 million in 2016.
Elizabeth Holmes Net Worth 2021: Estimated to be 0
Since the company's value dropped to $800 million, how much of it was Holmes' share? According to Woman's Health, Holmes allegedly sold approximately $700 million to the scammed investors. Taking a few thousand more for company costs, Holmes is left with close to nothing.
When the accusations of fraud came to light, Forbes revised its estimate of Holmes to a net worth of zero.
Theranos Trial: Elizabeth Holmes Takes a Stand
Last month, the Theranos founder got taken into court for questioning. Federal prosecutor Robert Leach shared a lot of evidence about her fraudulent claims.
According to Cnbc, there were documents about a projected revenue of $40 million from pharmaceutical companies. There were also documents about the Theranos device being used by the U.S. military in the Middle East. Holmes acknowledged that both documents were wrong.
The situation is still progressing, so interested readers are advised to watch out for more updates which might come out later this week.
