After outlining plans nearly one year ago to take 23andMe private—and submitting multiple offers—co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki will now resign as chief of the genetic testing company as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and instead pursues a court-managed sale.
Wojcicki will remain on 23andMe’s board of directors, while the company’s chief financial and accounting officer, Joseph Selsavage, will serve as interim president and CEO. In a post on X, Wojcicki said her hat will remain in the ring as the process continues.
“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,” she wrote. “I have resigned as CEO of the company so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder.”
23andMe went public in early 2021 through a $3.5 billion SPAC deal spearheaded by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, leaving Wojcicki with 49.99% of the voting power over the company. Its stock price has dropped by more than 97% in the time since, as consumer interest in at-home DNA and ancestry tests has declined.
The company’s plans to transition into a genetics-informed drugmaker have also not panned out: last November 23andMe laid off 40% of its staff, or about 200 people, and shuttered its cancer therapeutics R&D division, which was developing two immuno-oncology programs in early-phase clinical trials of various solid tumors. It has also obtained FDA clearances for DTC tests examining genetic cancer risks linked to prostate, breast and ovarian cancers.
The company disclosed in January that it would be seeking strategic alternatives. With the bankruptcy announcement, 23andMe’s share value was cut by more than half, to about 88 cents.
Wojcicki initially proposed paying 40 cents per share in July of last year, but that offer increased to $2.53 per share in February, with that rejected deal totaling about $74 million. In between, 23andMe completed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split last October.
“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximize the value of the business,” Mark Jensen, chair of the board of directors, said in a statement.
“We expect the court-supervised process will advance our efforts to address the operational and financial challenges we face, including further cost reductions and the resolution of legal and leasehold liabilities,” Jensen added. “We believe in the value of our people and our assets and hope that this process allows our mission of helping people access, understand and benefit from the human genome to live on for the benefit of customers and patients.”
Those assets also include the genetic information of more than 15 million customers of 23andMe’s direct-to-consumer DNA tests, with many opting in for its use in research. Jensen said the company is “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.”
In her post on X, Wojcicki said those findings helped enable novel drug discovery programs and partnerships with Big Pharmas like GSK.
“In addition, over 250 publications have come out because of you and we have meaningfully impacted the research world. Thank you,” she wrote.
“We have had many successes but I equally take accountability for the challenges we have today. There 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,” Wojcicki wrote.
“Consumers are rising up and asking for more control over their health and want greater knowledge about how to be healthy and why they may have health issues. We fought for consumers to have direct access to their information and for them to have choice and transparency with respect to their personal data. As 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.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include 23andMe's reverse stock split in October 2024.