Rebecca Jarvis, Chief Business, Technology & Economics Correspondent for ABC News provides interesting details on her long career in journalism and specifically the amazing story of disgraced entrepreneur, Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos.
Jarvis is a seasoned journalist. In addition to her prominent work with ABC News, she serves as host and managing editor of the popular podcast No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis, as well as host and managing editor of Real Biz with Rebecca Jarvis. Her extensive work for ABC News includes critically acclaimed shows such as World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, 20/20, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and Good Morning America. Throughout her impressive career she has regularly interviewed innovators and visionaries such as Warren Buffett; Sheryl Sandberg; Richard Branson; Diane von Furstenberg; and GM’s first woman CEO, Mary Barra, just to name a few. From presidential elections to the Great Recession, the Madoff scandal and the crash of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, if it’s important business news, Jarvis has covered it.
Jarvis discusses the riveting story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Jarvis’ work on The Dropout, a documentary podcast by ABC Radio & ABC News Nightline that covers the story of the aforementioned Holmes, has received critical praise. The Dropout explores the ambition and fame that went awry for the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire. It seeks to unravel the story of Holmes and get to the bottom of how a woman at the top of her game, who was often referred to as ‘the next Steve Jobs,’ could lose everything and face severe criminal charges. Theranos was a health technology corporation that experienced a meteoric rise in the medical technology industry with what was then heralded as breakthrough technology—a means to perform blood tests with extremely smaller amounts of blood than had been historically possible. However, if it sounds too good to be true it often is, as Holmes was later exposed for making false claims about the company and the tech, and was indicted on wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Jarvis explains how she became intrigued by not only the technology Theranos was proposing but also the scores of big-dollar investors who jumped on board early stage to back the so-called groundbreaking technology. Jarvis comments at length about how amazing it is that time after time so many truly smart people can be fooled by swindlers like Bernie Madoff, Elizabeth Holmes, and others like them. She describes it as “affinity fraud” in that people tend to trust those whom their friends and associates have already placed trust in. Jarvis goes on to say that Holmes was truly a brilliant woman to accomplish all that she did in high school, college, and beyond and that everyone who knew her was aware of her incredible aptitude in many areas. Unfortunately, she took a very wrong turn.
Further, Jarvis talks in general about business and investments. She explains that sometimes it is necessary to fight one’s own nature, and she cites examples of how some people have lost greater by quickly pulling their money out of the market when there is a slight shift. The lesson, she states, in terms of business and investment, is to always ask questions and get answers, and those who do often get it right.
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