Good morning I spoke to comedian Nathan Fielder after a recent media screening of You can see everythinghis absurd documentary with director Lance Oppenheim that follows disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes just before she heads to federal prison. I asked him why he had worked for three years on a film that could have been released shortly after his 34-day relationship with Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and their two children. He told me they wanted more material about the couple’s next project and a clearer picture of Elizabeth Holmes. Who was this woman?
Journalists love great characters, especially when they go off script. Out of this trailer aloneIt’s clear that Holmes no longer wants to play the genius billionaire girl with the black turtleneck, deep voice and groundbreaking technology that could perform hundreds of medical tests with a single drop of blood. Now she’s a clueless eccentric, an innocent in mom jeans with a beatific smile and staring eyes fixed on her “soulmate” Evans, a controlling nerd who treats us to full-frontal nudity and other helpings of questionable judgment. We meet two angel babies – Holmes’ “angels” – whose birth delayed their trial and conviction. Why not invite a comedian into the family for the last 34 days of your freedom before you face a 135-month prison sentence for investor fraud and conspiracy? Crazy children! Pass the popcorn!
I like the film. I also recommend checking out Tilda Swintons Mirror scene In Michael Clayton to get a feel for how confidently Holmes rehearsed –and rehearsed– her now-abandoned personality is based on her perception of Steve Jobs. Look at the number Patients and doctors who were deceivedher clueless, star-studded boardthe number of people who bought into the dream because they wanted it to be true. (We called them an exceptional entrepreneur and then challenged her model.)
The problem with quirky characters is that they can distract you from important parts of the underlying story. When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan’s show Last year, we paid more attention to his “masculine energy” transformation from nervous nerd in a hoodie to tech bro in streetwear, complete with gold chain and luscious curls. The host was too busy discussing bowhunting and jiu-jitsu with Meta’s newly minted macho protagonist to dwell too much on his controversial policies later resulted in an $18 billion settlement.
We have an equally crazy cast of characters dominating today’s business discourse. There’s Elon Musk with him irregular X posts, Moonshotsand personal impetus repopulate the planet; Dario Amodei and Sam Altman discuss it publicly Your products will kill us as if such things were beyond their control; Jeff Bezos goes from a customer-focused everyman to a hulking billionaire who cruises on half-billion-dollar yachts and sends Katy Perry into space. The stories could practically write themselves unless we stop and look at what’s really going on.
But before you get too caught up in Holmes 2.0, take a look at the lies, harm, and corruption that landed this character in prison.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top leadership news
Nvidia’s CEO is the biggest obstacle to AI doomerism
Jensen Huang has warnings rejected several times about the existential threat to humanity posed by AI and building a robust defense to move forward at full speed. In an interview two weeks ago, he said: “2030 will not be the end of the world.” Huang too at the beginning of September argued that governments should regulate “actual and pragmatic harm” rather than “hypothetical, theoretical harm.”
Iranian currency will be wiped out
With the Iranian economy in free fall, The country’s currency is devalued The crisis also continues to reach new proportions as the regime soon faces a major cash shortage. The exchange rate reached more than 2.5 million riyals per US dollar, less than a month after its previous record low of 2.2 million on September 2. At the beginning of this year it was almost 1.5 million and in August 2025 it was 920,000.
Where Americans move from generation to generation
According to U-Haul, Baby Boomers and Generation X prefer warm, lower cost destinations in the Southeast. Younger Americans, meanwhile, continue to gravitate toward the country’s most populous states and cities. California ranked third among U-Haul net profit states among Millennials and second among Generation Z, while census data shows the state’s overall population fell 0.5% between April 2020 and July 2025.
The markets
S&P 500 Futures are down 0.13% this morning. The last session closed with a gain of 0.73%. The STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.33% in early trading. The British FTSE 100 rose 0.45% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 2.40%. South Korea’s markets are closed. China’s markets are closed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.28%. India’s NIFTY 50 is up 0.58%. Bitcoin is at $86,000.
Around the water cooler
Generation Z can’t control the future, so they pay witches and tarot readers to make it feel more manageable by Tatiana Sataua
Meet the “Mini-Erin Brockoviches” as they fight against eminent domain – and the shadow of Amazon – as a data center distributes $10,000 to its neighbors by Sasha Rogelberg
Even “Bond King” Bill Gross warns against owning bonds as long-term debt enters a new phase of volatility by Jason Ma
“We have to trust our employees”: This billionaire CEO went from counting cars in the parking lot after 6 p.m. to hybrid working by Preston Fore
CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.