DNA testing company 23andme – one of the most important startups in Silicon Valley –Bankruptcy on monday. Anne Wajiki, founder and CEO who has spread the genetic tests focused on the consumer.
“We have achieved many successes, but I am equal to the challenges facing us today,” Wojcicki wrote in a joint statement. On social media. “There is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andme through an advanced business model were real, but my faith in the company and its future is not shaken.”
The bankruptcy of 23andme was not completely surprising, looking at the latter Painting and stock prices disorder In the company that suffers from financial distress. However, this turn has sparked fears of the 15 million customers of the company that the DNA is now forgotten. ((23andme said There will be no changes to how to store or protect customer data.)
WoJCICKKI’s decision to step down follows months of pressure on the founder who fully resigned on the same day in the past fall. For many years, WoJCICKI was seen as a major thinker, consumer health champion, and one of a few women who are driving an influential biotechnology company. Through her prayers in technology, politics and Hollywood, she helped push 23andme and the possibilities of genetic test to the prevailing culture. However, the events of the past few years have raised questions about its legacy.
Here is a timetable for the events that formed the 23ndme path:
2006: Linda Avey, Genetic expert, Paul Cusenza, Engineer and Executive Manager, Anne WojCikki, former health care investment analyst, launch 23andme. Avey Preceded Imagine the idea and put it to investors, including Google founders. According to Avey, Sergey Brin WoJCICKKI suggested that he become a founder. (Breen and WoJCICKI married at the time.)
2007: 23ndme begins to provide DNA tests for $ 1,000 per request, and ask customers to send the spit to the company in a vial for information about their ancestors and some health risks. The company’s test allows users to participate in sharing their data with researchers and answering questions about their lifestyle, creating a possible database of future mining.New York Times Journalist Amy Harmon writes a profound personal account to test her DNA With 23andmeBringing the company’s wide awareness and capabilities. The company is also known for its celebrities “Spitting parties.”
2009: WoJCICKI and the Council announce that Linda Avey is leaving the company. (He left Cosnza in 2008.) After years, Avey tells the podcast It leads: “It is not something I chose.” It is also called the “destroyed” overthrow.
March 12, 2015: WoJCICKI launches Drug detection workShe looks forward to taking advantage of the data she collected from consumers. This leads the company to an expensive task, as Wojcicki later recounted how it was warned against drug research, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, require several years, and not guarantee success. WoJCICKI recruits Scientific researchers And ultimately 23andme develops two goals of cancer, which will reach clinical experiments.
November 22, 2015: Food and Drug Administration sends wojcicki Warning message On the spitting group tests that provide customers with health and disease information. The company removes its health products from the market and rents experts to move in organizational affairs. Two years laterThe FDA (FDA) agrees on genetic health tests that focus on the 23andme consumer, which creates a product approved by the FDA (FDA).
July 25, 2018: GSK It signs a deal with 23andme that allows the pharmaceutical company exclusive access to the 23ndme-database-including DNA data for its customers at that time-for a period of four years. “The goal of cooperation is to collect ideas and discover new goals for medicines that push the development of the disease and develop treatments to meet the unparalleled medical needs based on these discoveries.” press release. This partnership will be extended later until 2025 and GSK will announce that it has led to viable drug targets.
June 16, 2021: 23andme is science through the Richard Branson and Virgin Group collection – SPAC deal. The list is briefly estimated at $ 6 billion, but it will be worth $ 3 billion by the end of the year.
November 1, 2021: 23DME buy health care company for Lemonaid Health For $ 400 million. He – she Wikiki’s goal has always been For 23ndme to provide a retail DNA test, drug research management, and merge genetic tests and clinical medicine.
October 6, 2023: Main data breach DNA is offered from 6.9 million people It is targeted by infiltrators. The company later asserts that the infiltrators targeted customers of the Jewish and Chinese Ashkenazi origin. The breach also leads to Collective lawsuit This will force the company to pay A $ 30 million settlement In 2024.
January 31, 2024Wall Street Journal publishes Explosive Looking at the reasons that were traded in 23andme, it was the trading of the Bensa Cup and never won a profit. As a public company, the main defects in its business model become clear. Sources in the story wonder whether Wojcicki pays sufficient attention to the basics of the company or if it builds a personal brand. On a wider scale, the biotechnology market suffers from the contraction that has started In 2022.
April 18, 2024: With 23ndme financial financial deterioration, wojcicki Express attention In taking the private company. As dominant shareholders, she also says she will not be open to external bids. (She changed her position after several times.) The 23andme Council is a special committee to prepare to assess the deal.
August 2, 2024: the The council responds To the first attempt by WoJCICKI to transport the private company for 40 cents to the share. It is not believed that the share price is appropriate and that it is not satisfied with the scarcity of details about sales financing. “Our expectations after months of work are that you will make a fully funding, fully and implemented financing proposal, which represents the interest of non -subordinate shareholders,” the Board of Directors writes. It also provides the opportunity to re -make the proposal at a later time. The company extends to this deadlie YouTubeHe dies from lung cancer.
September 18, 2024: At a horrific turn, the full panel of 23andme is resigned on the same day, explaining in Public message Its members felt that they had some other options. WoJCICKI, as the dominant shareholder, said that she will not enjoy other offers and the Board of Directors did not receive an improved offer while the company was facing a great strait. The group – which included stars such as Neil Mohan, CEO of the company YouTubeAnd Roelof Botha, Head Sikoya Capital– Write that while they believe in “sincerely” the company’s task to allocate health care with genetic data, they do not agree to the strategic direction of WojCICKI.
October 16, 2024: 23andme Complete the division of reverse stocks To avoid overcoming Nasdak. The stock price has previously decreased less than one dollar.
October 17, 2024: Wojcicki Recount luck In its first public interview since the board of directors’ resignation, it still believes that it “could land this plane” and that it was surprised like anyone about the resignation of the council. It also responds to previous employees’ suggestions that its excessive leadership method helped the company sinking. “I have always said from the beginning, I don’t need to be responsible.” luck. “I am not for me. I care about seeing and task.”
February 20, 2025: After closing the drug discovery work, put nearly half of the 23ndme employees, and add Three financial To its new board, WoJCICKI connects with the new mountainous capital A new suggestion To buy 23ndme, which is estimated at $ 75 million. Retail nervous investors say luck They hope that the council will not accept its first offer.
March 2, 2025: Explain WoJCICKI in New public file The new mountain capital is “no longer interested” in partnership with it on the proposal. WoJCICKI includes a new offer, this time the company’s evaluation of $ 42 million. The Board of Directors rejects this proposal later on the same day.
March 24, 2025: 23andme announces that bankruptcy enters, Data privacy fears shattered. Ann Wogiki descends as an executive president, but she says she will continue to make another offer to buy the company. “Consumers are rising and seek more control over their health and want more knowledge about how they are in good health and why he might have health problems,” she writes. On x.com. “We have fought for consumers direct access to their information and to obtain choice and transparency regarding their personal data. As I think in the future, I will continue to call on customers tirelessly to have a choice and transparency regarding their personal data, regardless of the statute.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
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2025-03-24 17:03:00
