Newspaper That Brought Down Theranos Learns Owner Is Major Investor

Once upon a time, Theranos was a promising biotech firm—raising $632 million from 2014-2015. In October 2015, everything changed when the Wall Street Journal published the first of its many exposés that revealed the company’s struggle to develop the blood-testing technology it promised. The Journal’s stories ultimately led to the company’s very ugly public unraveling. A new report published on Monday reveals that Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of the Wall Street Journal’s parent company, invested $100 million in Theranos shortly before the paper published its first report.

Theranos, which is currently under criminal investigation, acquired much of its funding “from high-profile private investors who weren’t part of the ecosystem that typically backs startups and could see their stakes wiped out by the blood-testing company’s regulatory and technological troubles,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

Communications conglomerate Cox Enterprises also invested $100 million in the company between 2014 and 2015. Walgreens is now suing Theranos for the $140 million it invested.

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