Standard DNA testing agency 23andMe has filed for chapter safety, and introduced that its co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned with speedy impact.
The corporate will now try and promote itself beneath the supervision of a court docket.
23andMe said in a press release that it plans to proceed working all through the sale course of and that there “are not any modifications to the best way the corporate shops, manages, or protects buyer information.”
On Friday, the Legal professional Common in 23andMe’s house state of California issued a shopper alert advising clients to delete their information from the positioning given the corporate’s “reported monetary misery.”
23andMe’s saliva-based check kits had been as soon as celebrated amongst clients and buyers, who helped to push the corporate’s worth as excessive as $6bn (£4.6bn).
Nevertheless it has been struggling for survival.
Based in 2006, the corporate went public in 2021 however has by no means turned a revenue.
In September, the agency settled a lawsuit alleging that it failed to guard the privateness of almost seven million clients whose private data was uncovered in a 2023 information breach.
In some instances, hackers gained entry to household bushes, delivery years and geographic places, through the use of clients’ previous passwords. The information stolen didn’t embody DNA information, based on the corporate.
Two months after the settlement, it cut 200 employees, amounting to 40% of its workforce.
23andMe mentioned its finance chief, Joe Selsavage, will take over as interim chief govt.
Ms Wojcicki will proceed to function a member of the board.
She had tried to take the corporate non-public however was not open to a third-party takeover.
23andMe – which as soon as had high-profile endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria, and Snoop Dogg – struggled to redefine its enterprise mannequin.
Clients didn’t have a lot to return for as soon as that they had paid for a DNA report, and an effort to launch a subscription service proved unsuccessful.
Efforts to make use of its large trove of information to maneuver into drug growth additionally faltered.
All the firm’s administrators, aside from Ms Wojcicki resigned final summer season, saying in a letter they had been quitting after not receiving a passable buyout supply from her.
