This article (by way of the WSJ) claims that Walgreens skipped their standard DD in partnering with Theranos, and that the deal overall was atypically structured.
Something seems a bit fishy. An uncorroborated source says WG skipped the due diligence part but in any event had they tried Theranos would have rebuffed their inquiries (because "secrecy") Could they not just compare and contrast results against known technologies, why rely on theranos's data at all?
Probably because they felt they didn't have the luxury of time on this one. They were probably worried that Rite Aid / CVS / other competitor would beat them to the punch, and figured that it was worth the risk to move quickly, at the time.
