Kurt Standard DNA testing agency 23andMe has filed for chapter safety, 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 knowledge.”
On Friday, the Lawyer Normal in 23andMe’s residence state of California issued a shopper alert advising prospects to delete their knowledge from the positioning given the corporate’s “reported monetary misery.”
23andMe’s saliva-based check kits have been as soon as celebrated amongst prospects and traders, who helped to push the corporate’s worth as excessive as $6bn (£4.6bn).
However 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 practically seven million prospects whose private info was uncovered in a 2023 knowledge breach.
In some instances, hackers gained entry to household timber, beginning years and geographic areas, through the use of prospects’ previous passwords. The information stolen didn’t embody DNA information, in response to the corporate.
Two months after the settlement, it minimize 200 staff, amounting to 40% of its workforce.
23andMe stated its finance chief, Joe Selsavage, will take over as interim chief government.
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 large trove of information to maneuver into drug improvement additionally faltered.
All the firm’s administrators, apart from Ms Wojcicki resigned final summer time, saying in a letter they have been quitting after not receiving a passable buyout provide from her.
In its assertion on Sunday, 23AndMe’s board chair Mark Jensen stated the corporate is “dedicated to persevering with to safeguard buyer knowledge and being clear in regards to the administration of person knowledge going ahead”.
He stated it will be “an necessary consideration in any potential transaction”.
However this may occasionally not ease issues of some customers about what occurs to the DNA they shared with the corporate.
Within the UK, it’s thought-about particular class knowledge beneath knowledge safety legal guidelines.
This supplies authorized protections if a agency goes bust or adjustments arms.
When a DNA testing firm known as Atlas Biomed appeared to have ceased buying and selling final 12 months, some prospects have been left with extra questions than solutions about what it meant for them.
Prof Carissa Veliz – creator of Privateness is Energy – beforehand instructed the BBC it’s arguably essentially the most precious private knowledge you will have.
“If you happen to gave your knowledge to 23andMe, you additionally gave the genetic knowledge of your mother and father, your siblings, your youngsters, and even distant kin who didn’t consent to that,” she stated.
Further reporting by Liv McMahon
