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Theranos employees take out anger at WSJ in homemade video game

Employees at the embattled blood-testing startup create a game styled after Space Invaders featuring the reporter who revealed the company's problems.

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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes

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The bad blood between Theranos and The Wall Street Journal is now a game.

Employees at the struggling blood testing company created a video game in which players shoot at photos of WSJ reporter John Carreyrou, according to Business Insider, which published a video of the game on Thursday.

Carreyrou reported in October 2015 that Theranos, which had once been valued at around $9 billion, was having difficulty with its technology. By March 2018, Theranos and founder Elizabeth Holmes agreed to settle fraud charges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has also reportedly cut staffing to a couple dozen people from as many as 150.

In a nine-second clip, photos of Carreyrou march across the screen in a manner similar to the old Space Invaders format. Players attempt to shoot the heads before they reach the bottom.

Carreyrou, who has written a book about the company, has been aware of the game for about a week. On Thursday, he tweeted that the game's creator sent him a copy. He just needed some cables to set it up.

Neither Theranos nor Carreyrou immediately responded to a request for comment.

CNET's Andrew Morse contributed to this report.

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