Popular DNA testing firm 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection, and announced that its co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned with immediate effect.
The company will now attempt to sell itself under the supervision of a court.
23andMe said in a press release that it plans to continue operating throughout the sale process and that there “are no changes to the way the company stores, manages, or protects customer data.”
On Friday, the Attorney General in 23andMe’s home state of California issued a consumer alert advising customers to delete their data from the site given the company’s “reported financial distress.”
23andMe’s saliva-based test kits were once celebrated among customers and investors, who helped to push the company’s value as high as $6bn (£4.6bn).
But it has been struggling for survival.
Founded in 2006, the company went public in 2021 but has never turned a profit.
In September, the firm settled a lawsuit alleging that it failed to protect the privacy of nearly seven million customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach.
In some cases, hackers gained access to family trees, birth years and geographic locations, by using customers’ old passwords. The data stolen did not include DNA records, according to the company.
Two months after the settlement, it cut 200 employees, amounting to 40% of its workforce.
23andMe said its finance chief, Joe Selsavage, will take over as interim chief executive.
Ms Wojcicki will continue to serve as a member of the board.
She had tried to take the company private but was not open to a third-party takeover.
23andMe – which once had high-profile endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria, and Snoop Dogg – struggled to redefine its business model.
Customers did not have much to return for once they had paid for a DNA report, and an effort to launch a subscription service proved unsuccessful.
Efforts to use its massive trove of data to move into drug development also faltered.
All of the company’s directors, except for Ms Wojcicki resigned last summer, saying in a letter they were quitting after not receiving a satisfactory buyout offer from her.
