23andMe’s former CEO is set to regain control of the genetic testing company after a $305m bid from a non-profit she controls topped a pharmaceutical company’s offer for it in a bankruptcy auction.
Last month, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy the firm for $256m, topping a $146m bid from Anne Wojcicki and the non-profit TTAM Research Institute. The larger offer prompted Wojcicki to raise her own with the backing of a Fortune 500 company, according to the former executive. The deal is expected to close in the coming weeks after a court hearing currently scheduled for 17 June, the company said on Friday.
Wojcicki had made multiple bids to take the company private while still CEO. The company’s board rejected her each time, and all of its independent directors eventually resigned in response to her takeover attempts.
Once a trailblazer in ancestry DNA testing, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, seeking to sell its business at auction after a decline in demand and a 2023 data breach that exposed sensitive genetic and personal information of millions of customers.
23andMe has lost a major chunk of customers since declaring bankruptcy, with the threat of a sale of users’ most sensitive information – the company sequences a person’s entire genome – to an unknown buyer looming. The company has said that about 15% of its existing customers have requested the closure of their accounts in response to its bankruptcy and planned sale. Experts have advised customers to ask the company delete their DNA data for privacy protection. TTAM said on Friday it would uphold 23andMe’s existing privacy policies and comply with all applicable data protection laws. Earlier this week, New York and more than two dozen other US states sued 23andMe to challenge the sale of its customers’ private information.
after newsletter promotion
Regeneron had said it was willing to make a new bid, but wanted a $10m breakup fee if Wojcicki’s bid was ultimately accepted.
