Widespread 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 underneath the supervision of a court docket.
23andMe mentioned in a press launch that it plans to proceed working all through the sale course of and that there “aren’t any modifications to the best way the corporate shops, manages, or protects buyer information.”
On Friday, the Legal professional Normal in 23andMe’s residence state of California issued a client 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 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 prospects whose private info was uncovered in a 2023 information breach.
In some instances, hackers gained entry to household bushes, beginning years and geographic places, through the use of prospects’ previous passwords. The information stolen didn’t embody DNA information, in keeping with the corporate.
Two months after the settlement, it reduce 200 staff, 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.
Prospects 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 huge trove of information to maneuver into drug growth additionally faltered.
The entire 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 provide from her.
In its assertion on Sunday, 23AndMe’s board chair Mark Jensen mentioned the corporate is “dedicated to persevering with to safeguard buyer information and being clear in regards to the administration of person information going ahead”.
He mentioned it will be “an necessary consideration in any potential transaction”.
However this may increasingly not ease considerations of some customers about what occurs to the DNA they shared with the corporate.
Within the UK, it’s thought-about particular class information underneath information safety legal guidelines.
This gives authorized protections if a agency goes bust or modifications arms.
When a DNA testing firm referred to as Atlas Biomed appeared to have ceased buying and selling final yr, some prospects had been left with extra questions than solutions about what it meant for them.
Prof Carissa Veliz – writer of Privateness is Energy – beforehand instructed the BBC it’s arguably essentially the most worthwhile private information you’ve.
“If you happen to gave your information to 23andMe, you additionally gave the genetic information of your dad and mom, your siblings, your kids, and even distant kin who didn’t consent to that,” she mentioned.
Further reporting by Liv McMahon
