Bruised Theranos Shutters Labs To Devote Attention To Research
CEO Elizabeth Holmes announces that about 340 employees will be laid off as the company closes both its clinical labs and its blood collection centers. The company's focus will shift to developing technology for its miniLab, a new blood-testing device.
San Francisco Business Times:
Theranos To Fire 340 As It Closes Labs And Wellness Centers
Theranos will fire 340 employees as it closes its clinical labs and Theranos Wellness Centers, wrote founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a blog post Wednesday afternoon. The closing of the labs and wellness centers will affect employees in three states: Arizona, California and Pennsylvania. Theranos employs from 500 to 1,000 workers, according to LinkedIn and Glassdoor. "We will return our undivided attention to our miniLab platform," Holmes said in the post, referring to the 95-pound desktop diagnostic tool presented for the first time at an annual scientific meeting in August. The miniLab platform was met with skepticism by conference attendees, who had been expected the company to provide data that showed its existing technology actually worked. (Procter, 10/5)
The Washington Post:
Theranos Will Close Labs And Walgreens Testing Sites, Laying Off Hundreds Of Employees
Elizabeth Holmes, the embattled founder and chief executive of Theranos, said late Wednesday that the company will close its clinical labs and Walgreens testing centers. The open letter, posted on the company’s website, was essentially an epitaph for the consumer business that was the focus of the once-celebrated Silicon Valley company that Holmes boasted would change the world with its simple and inexpensive pinprick blood test. In magazine interviews, TV appearances and keynote speeches she gave around the world, Holmes said the innovation would empower consumers by giving them the ability to bypass the gatekeepers — their doctors — to get important information about the health of their own bodies. (Cha, 10/5)