Some Theranos employees aren't happy with John Carreyrou, The Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who broke the story of troubles at the blood-testing startup in an October 2015 exposé.
Theranos, which launched in 2003 and was once valued at $9 billion, had promised to revolutionize blood testing through a device that offered quicker results with a single drop of blood, Business Insider reports.
Mr. Carreyrou's report — which alleged Theranos' devices were flawed and inaccurate — was a primary trigger for federal officials' regulatory and quality investigations into the company. The startup and its founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes have since been charged with fraud, according to a March filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In early April, Theranos laid off about 80 percent of its workforce in an effort to avoid bankruptcy.
On April 12, Mr. Carreyrou took to Twitter to share an anecdote he heard about his reputation at Theranos. At a company party, some employees reportedly played a video game, modeled after the arcade game "Space Invaders," in which players shot photos of Mr. Carreyrou.
Mr. Carreyrou added the employee who designed the game, titled "Haters' gonna Hate v1.5," reached out to Mr. Carreyrou and said he would share a copy of the game. "I loved Space Invaders growing up," Mr. Carreyrou wrote.
Mr. Carreyrou also shared a clarification from the employee, who he said wrote, "Theranos management did not sanction this, nor was it an official project with a bunch of engineers working on it. It was just a way for me to learn Python, and try to cheer up my former co-workers."