Theranos Alliance That Went Bust Cost Safeway $400 Million (1)

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.

Steven Burd, left, arrives at federal court in San Jose on Oct. 12.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The first company chief executive to testify at the trial, now ...