11 top rich people were cut off!

The "female Steve Jobs" turned out to be the "female Jia Yueting", and the entire Silicon Valley was dumbfounded.

There is sometimes a thin line between a technological genius who changes the world and a frustrated person who loses all his investors' money.

Perhaps LeTV’s shareholders know this best.

The protagonist of today’s story is Elizabeth Holmes, a beauty born in the 1980s who is known as a top student at Stanford University.

It has been reported that Theranos, the biotechnology company she founded, was once very popular, with a valuation of over 9 billion US dollars.

Many people once thought that the "nano blood droplets" she advocated would change the future medical industry.

▲Screenshot of the video of Elizabeth Holmes attending the Wealth Forum. However, the financing last Christmas failed to save this huge bubble.

According to court documents, investors in this company lost more than $700 million (approximately 4.6 billion yuan) in total.

Shockingly, the list of "leeks" that suffered losses includes many world-class celebrities, including media giant Rupert Murdoch, the founding family of Walmart, former world's richest man Carlos Slim, and U.S. Education Secretary DeVos.

"Choke" for Holmes' dream.

Many billionaires have been "cut off leeks". The family of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos invested $100 million in Theranos, although DeVos had previously disclosed in a government document that her family was

investor in Theranos, but the size of the investment was not known at the time.

▲ Greg McNeely, COO of Windquest Group, the current U.S. Secretary of Education DeVos and her husband’s family holding company, Windquest Group, said, “The investment members of the DeVos family are very disappointed with Theranos.” It should also be noted that,

DeVos is married to Dick DeVos, the son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos.

The Walton family, one of the richest families in the world and descendants of Wal-Mart founders Sam and Bud Wal-Mart, is also a victim.

The most severely damaged investor was the Walton family, which invested $150 million in Theranos through two companies.

According to the latest Forbes billionaire list, the three members of the Walton family, Jim Walton, Robertson Walton and Alice Walton, are worth US$46.4 billion, US$46.2 billion and US$46 billion respectively.

Ranked 14th, 15th and 16th.

▲Image source: Forbes Rupert Murdoch, the world’s leading news tycoon, is Theranos’ largest individual investor.

According to people familiar with the matter, Murdoch invested US$125 million in the company in March 2015 and sold the shares back to the company for US$1 in early 2017.

Murdoch received an additional $4 million from Theranos after Theranos reached a legal settlement with a hedge fund investor under a share repurchase agreement, people familiar with the matter said.

This San Francisco-based hedge fund called Partner Fund Management invested $96 million in Theranos as early as early 2014.

When the hedge fund sued Theranos for fraud in October 2016, Theranos eventually agreed to settle the matter for $43 million without admitting or denying the fraud charges against the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Another victim was Carlos Slim, the former world’s richest man and Mexican telecommunications tycoon.

However, he only lost $30 million.

From 2013 to 2015, Carlos Slim was named the world's richest man by Fortune magazine many times.

As of March 2018, he ranked seventh on the world's richest list with a net worth of US$70.5 billion. His industries cover 13 industries including education, medical care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, and energy.

▲Carlos Slim In addition, Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, was also a victim.

However, he only lost $1 million.

▲Well-known investors who suffered losses when investing in Theranos, the Wall Street Journal reported that it is indeed rare in history for many top investors to lose such a huge amount on the same investment.

It can also be seen from the picture above that these 11 well-known investors suffered a cumulative loss of US$723.2 million (approximately 4.6 billion yuan) due to their failed investment in Theranos.

The Fall of Silicon Valley Star Company So, what kind of existence is this Theranos company?

It can make so many "old drivers" in the investment world stumble.

In fact, Theranos was considered a veritable star company in Silicon Valley three years ago.

In October 2015, 101 CEOs, investors and think tank members in Silicon Valley voted on "which startup will change the world."