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Elizabeth Holmes

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (February 3, 1984- )
    Born in Washington, District of Columbia
    Founded the health care technology company Theranos (2004)
    CEO of Theranos (2004-18)
    Claimed to have developed a miniaturized blood testing device, dubbed Edison, that required 1/100th the amount of blood used by existing tests
    Net worth according to Forbes in 2015: $4.5 billion
    Net worth according to Forbes in 2016: $0

Why she might be annoying:

    She imitated Steve Jobs by adopting a ‘uniform’ of a black suit and black turtleneck sweater.
    She is a vegan, who frequently drinks a blend of cucumber, parsley, kale, spinach, lettuce and celery.
    The Wall Street Journal reported that Theranos was actually using traditional blood testing devices to run analyses because the Edison machines were inaccurate (2015).
    It also reportedly ran fake ‘demonstration tests’ for potential investors.
    The company lab in Newark, California, failed an inspection by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which banned Holmes and Theranos from owning or operating a blood testing lab for two years (2016).
    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against her for, among other infractions, reporting company revenues as $100 million when they had only been $100,000, and presenting investors with fake endorsements from pharmaceutical companies; the suit was settled with Holmes paying a $500,000 fine, relinquishing 18.9 million shares of stock, and being banned from serving as an officer in a public company for ten years (March 14, 2018).
    A federal grand jury indicted her on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud (June 15, 2018).

Why she might not be annoying:

    While in high school, she completed three college courses in Mandarin Chinese.
    Forbes briefly recognized her as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire (2015).
    She was the youngest recipient of the Horatio Alger Award (2015).
    Under her settlement with the SEC, she cannot profit from Theranos being sold or liquidated until $760 million is repaid to investors.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 315 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 162 Votes: 56.79% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 100 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 25 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 153 Votes: 59.48% Annoying