Fashionable DNA testing agency 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection, and introduced that its co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned with instant impact.
The corporate will now try and promote itself beneath the supervision of a court docket.
23andMe stated in a press launch that it plans to proceed working all through the sale course of and that there “are not any adjustments to the way in which the corporate shops, manages, or protects buyer information.”
On Friday, the Legal professional Normal in 23andMe’s dwelling state of California issued a shopper alert advising prospects to delete their information from the location given the corporate’s “reported monetary misery.”
23andMe’s saliva-based check kits had been as soon as celebrated amongst prospects and traders, who helped to push the corporate’s worth as excessive as $6bn (£4.6bn).
But it surely 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 prospects whose private data was uncovered in a 2023 information breach.
In some instances, hackers gained entry to household bushes, start years and geographic places, through the use of prospects’ outdated passwords. The info stolen didn’t embody DNA data, in keeping with the corporate.
Two months after the settlement, it lower 200 staff, amounting to 40% of its workforce.
23andMe stated 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 personal 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.
Prospects didn’t have a lot to return for as soon as they’d paid for a DNA report, and an effort to launch a subscription service proved unsuccessful.
Efforts to make use of its huge trove of information to maneuver into drug improvement additionally faltered.
All the firm’s administrators, besides for Ms Wojcicki resigned final summer time, saying in a letter they had been quitting after not receiving a passable buyout supply from her.
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