23andMeThe personal genomics company, 23andMe, went public in early 2021 through a merger with a blank-check company that valued it at $3.5 billion. Then its fortunes began to sink. Declining interest in DNA kits (23andMe’s main product) was one of the factors driving it down. So was last year’s news that hackers stole ancestry data from 6.9 million of its users.
CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki now reportedly wants to take the 18-year-old company public. After her own proposal to buy it was rejected, refused In July, its board of directors gave it time to close another deal. But its independent directors announced On Tuesday night, they lost faith that another proposal would emerge, adding that because of Wojcicki’s voting power, they were out.
The company’s market capitalization closed the day at $173 million. The loss of its glittering board, which included Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, among five others, will likely send its stock further down. One question is whether a shareholder lawsuit could be filed.