23andMe headquarters in Silicon Valley. Image: © Sundry Photography/Stock.adobe.com
Co-founder Anne Wojcicki has resigned as CEO in order to make an independent bid to purchase the company.
Genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy and its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki has resigned from her position. As a replacement, the company’s chief financial and accounting officer Joe Selsavage has been appointed as interim CEO.
The 2006-founded company, currently valued at $48m, initiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri yesterday (23 March).
Once approved by the court, the company will solicit bids from potential buyers. One of those bidders will likely be resigned CEO Wojcicki.
In an X post today (24 March), she wrote: “While I am disappointed that we have come to this conclusion and my bid was rejected, I am supportive of the company and I intend to be a bidder. I have resigned as CEO of the company so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder.
“We have had many successes but I equally take accountability for the challenges we have today,” she added.
The once globally praised company fell from grace in recent years. In 2021, it went public at a $3.5bn valuation and at its height, it reached a market cap of $6bn.
However, by 2024, most of 23andMe’s board members had resigned after a dispute that stemmed from Wojcicki, who attempted to buy out board members’ shares in order to take the company private.
Late last year, the company announced plans to cut 40pc of its workforce and discontinued further developing its therapies as part of a “necessary” restructuring programme, according to Wojcicki.
The company’s share price has fallen to extremely low levels since it went public in 2021, with some publications referring to it as a penny stock. Currently, the company’s share price is at an all-time-low, having dropped below $2.
Its recent woes were only made worse after the company suffered a massive data breach in 2023, which saw a threat actor steal personal data from nearly 7m customers. The data breach led to investigations from UK and Canadian watchdogs and the company agreed to pay $30m to settle a lawsuit over the incident.
Yesterday, the company announced that it intends to resolve any outstanding legal liabilities stemming from the cyber incident as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximise the value of the business,” said Mark Jensen, company chair and member of the special committee of the board of directors.
“We want to thank our employees for their dedication to 23andMe’s mission. We are committed to supporting them as we move through the process. In addition, we are committed to continuing to safeguard customer data and being transparent about the management of user data going forward, and data privacy will be an important consideration in any potential transaction.”
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