Elizabeth Holmes Called Herself The “Best Businessperson Of The Year” In Private Texts
In newly revealed messages to ex-partner Ramesh Balwani, former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes called herself the “best businessperson of the year” and worried over luxury “distractions” from her work, prior to Theranos’ implosion in 2018.
In text messages to Balwani in November 2014, Holmes proclaimed she had “total confidence in myself best business person of the year” and also wrote, “don’t give what anyone thinks – engage employees in meetings by stories and making it about them (i.e. prepare well).”
These messages to her then-partner and former Theranos President Balwani are amongst a string of thousands of private text and Skype messages obtained by CNBC as Holmes stands trial on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The messages appear to reveal that Holmes lacked no confidence in either herself or her $9 billion blood-testing company and also show that Holmes told her then-partner about courting high-profile investors who later handed over millions of dollars to Theranos. The company had promised to revolutionise the blood-testing industry with a simple finger-prick. However, in 2015, the Wall Street Journal debunked Theranos’ miracle illusion and by 2018, the company had imploded.
Balwani’s trial on the same charges as Holmes is set to begin in January.
