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_Forbes_ states that Holmes established Theranos, a blood testing company in 2003 with the intention of reinventing diagnostic tests, focusing on greater access to healthcare for all. On
their website, Theranos claims that it was created with the goal of making it possible to conduct lab tests with just a few drops of blood, allowing patients to use a simple finger prick
rather than a long syringe of blood. Theranos, whose shares are not traded on any stock market, was valued at almost $9 Billion based on the prices of private investors purchases. But since
then, new information has indicated that Theranos’ annual revenues are less than $100 million, and has led FORBES to come up with a new, lower estimate of Theranos’ value. _Forbes _spoke to
a dozen venture capitalists, analysts and industry experts and concluded that a more realistic value for Theranos is $800 million, rather than $9 billion. That gives the company credit for
its intellectual property and the $724 million that it has raised, according to VC Experts, a venture capital research firm. The problem with such a low valuation is that Holmes’ stake is
nothing, since she owns common stock which gets last preference in case of a liquidation. Meanwhile investors own preferred equity, called participating preferred shares . So, in the event
of a liquidation of the company, participating preferred investors would get their money back and more before Holmes gets a cent.