{"id":32700,"date":"2015-10-19T09:48:53","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T13:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=32700"},"modified":"2015-10-19T09:48:53","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T13:48:53","slug":"two-sad-stories-theranos-and-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=32700","title":{"rendered":"Two sad stories: Theranos and Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activist hedgie Nelson Peltz invested $2.5 billion in GE. I’m tagging along. So far, so good.
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"GEYeartodate\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Economic news is varied this morning. China EDP slowed to 6.9%, which is still incredible.<\/p>\n

Still no clear trend on the stockmarket:<\/p>\n

\"SP500YTD\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cash is useful. This could turn on a dime. Remember:<\/p>\n

\"$100forthiscar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Walmart’s continuing ailments.<\/strong> <\/span>From reader Alle Gee<\/p>\n

I think Walmart is in big trouble. I saw the CEO interviewed by Jim Cramer. He was pitiful in his explanations of raising wages and excuses of why to even consider the stock. The nearest store to me is in Neptune, Monmouth County, NJ,\u00a0 a pretty affluent county. The store is a joke I would not even give my dog. The people food prices are not that cheap, and quality of stuff is crap.They have a huge challenge in the northeast people are more picky and rent and wages are not cheap.<\/p>\n

I’m still holding my nice Walmart shorts.<\/p>\n

Theranos update, of sorts.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You can’t invest in this. Nor do, I suspect, or you want to. The story is fascinating. Young pretty, smart girl hates needles. So she invents a technology that allows blood tests with pricks, not needles — less blood.<\/p>\n

\"Thereanos\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes showing all the blood she needs for her tests. She was worth around $4.5 billion through her ownership stake in Theranos before all this happened.<\/em><\/p>\n

New technology has teething pains. The Wall Street Journal rips her and her company Theranos. And her world begins to cave.<\/p>\n

What’s unclear is why the Journal had it in for her. Here’s the original Journal story, a followup and one from Vanity Fair:<\/p>\n

\u00a0+ Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology. Silicon Valley lab, led by Elizabeth Holmes, is valued at $9 billion but isn’t using its technology for all the tests it offers. From the Wall Street Journal. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

+ Hot Startup Theranos Dials Back Lab Tests at FDA’s Behest. Firm has stopped collecting tiny vials of blood drawn from finger pricks for all but one of its tests. Wall Street Journal. Click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

+ Why the World’s Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire May Be in Big Trouble. Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes is the latest in a long line of Silicon Valley players to have walked the path of the founder. Could a damning new investigative report on the company debunk the myth and poke holes in a bubble? From Vanity Fair. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Saddest story around. <\/strong><\/span>From the NYTimes:<\/p>\n

Few in Venezuela Want Bol\u00edvars, but No One Can Spare a Dime<\/strong><\/p>\n

CARACAS, Venezuela – Pity the bol\u00edvar, Venezuela’s currency, named after its independence hero, Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar. Even some thieves do not want it anymore.<\/p>\n

When robbers carjacked Pedro Venero, an engineer, earlier this year, he expected they would drive him to his bank to cash his check for a hefty sum in bol\u00edvars – the sort of thing that crime-weary Venezuelans have long since gotten used to. But the robbers, armed with rifles and a grenade, and sure that he would have a stash of dollars at home, wanted nothing to do with the bol\u00edvars in his bank account.<\/p>\n

“They told me straight up, `Don’t worry about that,’ ” Mr. Venero said. “Forget about it.”<\/p>\n

The eagerness to dump bol\u00edvars or avoid them completely shows the extent to which Venezuelans have lost faith in their economy and in the ability of their government to find a way out of the mess.<\/p>\n

A year ago, $1 bought about 100 bol\u00edvars on the black market. These days, it often fetches more than 700 bol\u00edvars, a sign of how thoroughly domestic confidence in the economy has crashed.<\/p>\n

Nobody can screw up an economy faster than a stupid government.<\/p>\n

Two sad pictures from the Times story:<\/p>\n

\"BatteryLineup\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A man slept in his car at dawn last month outside a car-battery shop in Caracas. He was one of more than 80 drivers lined up overnight to buy a battery from the limited supply the next day.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Meatfreezers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All the meat freezers were empty last month in a grocery store in Caracas, Venezuela, part of a long list of shortages.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For the NYTimes full story, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"HarryNewton\"<\/a>
\nHarry Newton, whose granddaughter, Sophie, now has six teeth and is seriously gorgeous, despite her cankles.<\/p>\n

\"SophieAgain\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Doesn’t look like her doting grandfather. Lucky girl.<\/p>\n