Once A World's Youngest Female Billionaire Elizabeth Holmes: Rise And Fall Story

Share

Elizabeth Holmes was born on February 3, 1984 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA as Elizabeth Anne Holmes. Ranked No. 110 on the Forbes 400 in 2014, Holmes topped the list of America's Self-Made Women in 2015 with a net worth of $4.7 billion.

According to reports, Holmes spends every waking hour in her office and doesn't even own a TV at home.

In March 2015, Holmes became the youngest person ever honored as a lifetime member by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former CEO of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company. Holmes has set her sights on more than simply dominating the blood-testing market; she wants to create a whole new market called "consumer health technology" that will see consumers more engaged in their health care.

Holmes is often compared to visionary Steve Jobs and told Mercury News she launched her company after "thinking about what is the greatest change I could make in the world." She abstains from caffeine, limits the amount of time she sleeps, and works seven days a week.

Since launching in 2003, Theranos has developed blood tests to help detect dozens of medical conditions, including high cholesterol and cancer, using just a drop or two of blood drawn from a pinprick in your finger.

Read More: Success secrets of self-made billionaires

She is known for her deep, husky speaking voice, though several journalists and past colleagues claim it is an affectation, and her real speaking voice is much higher. In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Theranos and Holmes with deceiving investors by "massive fraud" through false or exaggerated claims about the accuracy of the company's blood-testing technology; Holmes settled the charges by paying a $500,000 fine, returning 18.9 million shares to the company, relinquishing her voting control of Theranos, and being barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for ten years. In June 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Holmes and former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh Balwani on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for distributing blood tests with falsified results to consumers. A trial is set to begin in March 2021. If convicted, Holmes faces up to 87 years in federal prison.

Elizabeth Holmes employed personal assistants to run her luxury shopping sprees, traveled by private jet, stayed at exclusive hotels and drove an expensive SUV.

As the CEO of Theranos, she was constantly in the limelight. Now facing a slew of fraud charges and prison, her defense attorneys don’t want her wealthy past to be played out in the courtroom – saying it’ll prejudice a jury.