MARCH 24, 2025 — CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY
The company is seeking a buyer, and CEO Anne Wojcicki has resigned so she can make an independent bid.
23andMe Holding Co., a leading human genetics and biotechnology company, today announced that it has initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (the “Court”) to facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business. The Company intends to continue operating its business in the ordinary course throughout the sale process. There are no changes to the way the Company stores, manages, or protects customer data.
“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,” said Mark Jensen, Chair and member of the Special Committee of the Board of Directors. “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. 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.”
Jensen continued, “We want to thank our employees for their dedication to 23andMe’s mission. We are committed to supporting them as we move through the process. In addition, we are 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.”
23andMe is seeking authorization from the Court to commence a process to sell substantially all of its assets through a chapter 11 plan or pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. If approved by the Court, the Company, with the assistance of an independent investment banker, would actively solicit qualified bids over a 45-day process. If multiple qualified bids are submitted during the Court-supervised sale process, the Company plans to conduct an auction to maximize the value of its assets. Any buyer will be required to comply with applicable law with respect to the treatment of customer data and any transaction will be subject to customary regulatory approvals, including, as applicable, approvals under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The Company has filed customary motions with the Court seeking a variety of “first-day” relief, including the authority to pay employee wages and benefits and compensate certain vendors and suppliers on a go-forward basis. 23andMe has also filed a motion with the Court seeking approval to reject numerous contracts, including the real estate leases in Sunnyvale and San Francisco, to reduce 23andMe’s ongoing operating expenses. The Company expects to receive Court approval for these requests.
In addition, 23andMe intends to use the proceedings to resolve all outstanding legal liabilities stemming from the previously disclosed October 2023 cyber incident.
23andMe has received a commitment for debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing of up to $35 million from JMB Capital Partners. Upon Court approval, the additional liquidity from the DIP financing, combined with cash generated from the Company’s ongoing operations, is expected to support the business during these proceedings.
The commencement of the proceedings follows the rejection by the Special Committee of the final non-binding acquisition proposal made by Anne Wojcicki and certain of her affiliates on March 10, 2025. Ms. Wojcicki's proposal was included in an amended Schedule 13D filing made by Ms. Wojcicki and such affiliates with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2025.
NOVEMBER 12, 2024 — 200+ EMPLOYEES
The company is closing its therapeutics development division and plans to seek buyers for its intellectual property.
The closure will impact 40% of its workforce or more than 200 employees.
Co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki noted, “We are taking these difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core consumer business and research partnerships. We continue to believe in the promise shown by our clinical and preclinical stage pipeline and will continue to pursue strategic opportunities to continue their development. We remain deeply grateful to the patients, investigators, and study staff for their participation in our clinical trials.”
FEBRUARY 14, 2020 — Original post…
Sunnyvale, California-based 23andMe, the privately-owned personal genomics and biotechnology company, has encountered a rough patch and has announced that it will be laying off approximately 100 employees in response to declining revenues. It appears that consumers are changing their attitude about DNA-testing services based on privacy concerns and the unauthorized use of their DNA profiles by law enforcement which can trace criminals through relatives with similar profiles. Of course, one of the major concerns is that the private database will be used by insurance companies to set premiums or the government to deny care under single-payer rationing plans.
According to a company spokesperson, “About 100 employees have been let go in departments across the organization in an effort to scale back on work that isn't core to the consumer testing and therapeutics businesses that 23andMe operates. The therapeutics team was not impacted by the layoffs..
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?