Genetics testing firm 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety within the U.S. to provoke the sale of its belongings. Alongside the announcement, the corporate’s co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki individually mentioned she is leaving the corporate to turn into an unbiased bidder for the corporate.
“After an intensive analysis of strategic options, we have now decided {that a} court-supervised sale course of is one of the best path ahead to maximise the worth of the enterprise,” Mark Jensen, chair and member of the Particular Committee of the Board of Administrators, mentioned in a press release.
“We count on the court-supervised course of will advance our efforts to deal with the operational and monetary challenges we face, together with additional price reductions and the decision of authorized and leasehold liabilities. We imagine within the worth of our individuals and our belongings and hope that this course of permits our mission of serving to individuals entry, perceive, and profit from the human genome to stay on for the good thing about prospects and sufferers.”
“The 23andMe Particular Committee launched information at the moment indicating their plan to take the corporate via the Chapter 11 course of. Whereas I’m upset that we have now come to this conclusion and my bid was rejected, I’m supportive of the corporate, and I intend to be a bidder. I’ve resigned as CEO of the corporate so I might be in one of the best place to pursue the corporate as an unbiased bidder,” Wojcicki mentioned in a post on X.
23andMe has had a difficult few years after it went public in 2021. Greatest recognized for its saliva-based check kits that supply prospects a glimpse into their genetic ancestry, the corporate has seen its market capitalization plummet greater than 99% from a peak of $6 billion after it failed to show a revenue.
Then in 2023, 23andMe suffered an enormous cyberattack through which the information of its almost 7 million prospects, together with customers’ genetic predisposition and ancestry experiences, was stolen by hackers. In September 2024, the corporate settled a lawsuit related to the data breach by paying $30 million, and shortly afterwards, Wojcicki mentioned she was exploring taking the company private.
On the time of writing, the corporate’s market worth was round $48 million, with its inventory buying and selling at $1.79.