Theranos Alliance That Went Bust Cost Safeway $400 Million
- Ex-CEO of grocery chain testifies Holmes was charismatic
- Judge ruled it’s unfair for jury to learn how much was spent
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Former Safeway Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steven Burd sank $400 million on his dream of transforming his grocery store chain into a one-stop shopping destination for food, blood-testing and drug prescriptions in partnership with Theranos Inc.
That Burd’s vision never materialized before his 20-year tenure at Safeway ended was meant by prosecutors as an object lesson for the jury in Elizabeth Holmes’s criminal trial: She was capable of duping even a seasoned chief executive officer and former private-equity adviser into investing in the startup that ultimately collapsed.