Embattled genetic testing company 23andMe, once valued at $6 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Missouri federal court on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned from her role as chief executive effective immediately, though she will remain a member of the board. Joseph Selsavage, 23andMe\u2019s chief financial and accounting officer, will serve as interim CEO, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had many successes but I equally take accountability for the challenges we have today,\u201d Wojcicki wrote in a post on X early Monday morning. \u201cThere is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andMe through an evolving business model have been real, but my belief in the company and its future is unwavering.\u201d<\/p>\n
23andMe declined to comment further on the filing.<\/p>\n The former billionaire co-founded 23andMe in 2006, and the company rocketed into the mainstream because of its at-home DNA testing kits that gave customers insight into their family histories and genetic profiles. The five-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, which valued the company at around $3.5 billion at the time.<\/strong><\/p>\n 23andMe\u2019s stock has mostly been in free fall in recent years as the company struggled to generate recurring revenue and stand up viable research and therapeutics businesses. As of Monday morning, the company has a market capitalization of around $25 million.<\/p>\n Last March, 23andMe\u2019s independent directors formed a special committee to evaluate the company\u2019s potential paths forward. Wojcicki submitted multiple proposals to take the company private, but all were rejected. The special committee \u201cunanimously determined to reject\u201d Wojcicki\u2019s most recent proposal earlier this month.<\/p>\n If 23andMe\u2019s plan to sell its assets through a Chapter 11 plan is approved by the court, the company will \u201cactively solicit qualified bids\u201d over a 45-day process. Wojcicki plans to pursue the company as an independent bidder, she said in her post on Monday.<\/p>\n 23andMe has between $100 million and $500 million in estimated assets, as well as between $100 million and $500 million in estimated liabilities, according to the bankruptcy filing.<\/p>\n Beyond its financial woes, privacy concerns around 23andMe\u2019s genetic database have swirled in recent years. In October 2023, hackers accessed the information of nearly 7 million customers. <\/p>\n California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday issued a consumer alert urging residents to consider deleting their genetic data from 23andMe\u2019s website.<\/p>\n 23andMe said there will be no changes to the way that it stores, protects or manages customer data through the sale process, and it will continue operating business as usual.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I think about the future, I will continue to tirelessly advocate for customers to have choice and transparency with respect to their personal data, regardless of platform,\u201d Wojcicki said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Embattled genetic testing company 23andMe, once valued at $6 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Missouri federal court on Sunday night. The company\u2019s CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned from her role as chief executive effective immediately, though she will remain a member of the board. Joseph Selsavage, 23andMe\u2019s chief financial and accounting officer, will <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}