
Ask HN: What companies are most likely Theranos of 2020? - bndr
I have recently watched documentaries on Theranos and Fyre Festival. It was quite interesting to know that people knew that it was a fraud much earlier than it came to light.<p>What do you think are other possible &quot;Theranos&quot; out there?
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gitgud
There needs to be a documentary on Juicero. They didn't lie and cheat like
Theranos and Fyre Festival, Juicero just a really silly business model...
Which is somehow just as scary

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radiokicker
If anyone wants an in depth primer on their products youtuber AVE did a tear
down on their machine.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cp-
BGQfpHQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cp-BGQfpHQ)

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bndr
From my perspective I think one is WeWork - shady practices, shady CEO, custom
metrics to valuate the company.

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CyberFonic
WeWork imploded in 2019 - so that proves your appraisal. Didn't have to wait
for 2020.

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bndr
Another interesting fraud I read about is OneCoin, they raised about 4$
billion [1] until 2019 and the creator of oneCoin disappeared. They were
positioning themselves as a cryptocurrency which ended up being simple a ponzi
scheme. `Cryptoqueen` podcast sheds more light on the story.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneCoin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneCoin)

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forgotpwd16
Most cryptocurrencies I've seen look like a scam and the majority of them end
up being one.

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muzani
Magic Leap? Haven't heard anything from them yet.

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rahulchhabra07
[https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dented-reality-
magic...](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dented-reality-magic-leap-
sees-slow-sales-steep-losses)

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CyberFonic
From an investment valuation point of view, any company whose shares are being
traded at more than say 12 to 15 x dividend payments has people owning shares
who are hoping that they will find an even bigger fool to pay for their shares
than they did.

Just have a look at the SEC filings for whichever companies you are interested
in and see for yourself. You won't have to look for long.

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quickthrower2
Why 15 x dividend payments? A growing company should probably be spending
those on growing anyway?

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1123581321
Basically, 7+% dividend yield is really good because if the dividend is sound,
the risk-reward ratio is better than investing in a growth company not paying
a dividend. The market should be bidding up the price of the stock to bring
the yield in line with typical yields. Since that isn’t happening, there is a
risk that the market is pricing into the stock, either that the dividend will
be cut or that the company may become insolvent.

There are high yield opportunities that are safer than others, but that is the
general principle to use when analyzing unusually high yields.

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MasterIdiot
Quibi - they raised a billion (according to the media) before launching
anything,and a video I can rotate doesn't sound like a revolutionary new form
of media or art.

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forgotpwd16
Whichever startup the well know adage "if it sounds too good to be true, it
probably is [too good to be]" applies to.

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jdubray
The Fed

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t0t4lnoo3
Airbnb.

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mimixco
Uber.

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andrei_says_
I hope they go down in flames. Destroying-local-economies-so-you can-get-rid-
of-competition-and-raise-prices-as-a-service is unacceptable.

Apart from their Uber-unethical, sexist and exploitative culture.

Or maybe drivers finally get classified as workers and form a strong union,
but before self driving technology :)

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jklein11
Uber might lead the charge for drivers to start unionizing. Could you imagine
trying to pull off what they pulled off with a powerful ride-share driver
union?

