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2mo ago

Anne Wojcicki’s Nonprofit Wins Bid to Acquire 23andMe for $305 Million

The purchase now hinges on Missouri bankruptcy court approval, with attorneys general suing to halt the sale of genetic data without customer consent.

This illustration picture shows a saliva collection kit for DNA testing displayed in Washington DC on December 19, 2018. - Between 2015 and 2018, sales of DNA test kits boomed in the United States and allowed websites to build a critical mass of DNA profiles. The four DNA websites that offer match services -- Ancestry, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, My Heritage -- today have so many users that it is rare for someone not to find at least one distant relative.
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Overview

  • Anne Wojcicki’s nonprofit TTAM Research Institute submitted a $305 million bid to acquire substantially all of 23andMe’s assets, surpassing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ earlier $256 million offer.
  • A hearing on June 17 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri will determine whether the deal moves forward.
  • Twenty-eight state attorneys general led by New York’s Letitia James filed suit to block the sale of customers’ genetic data without explicit consent.
  • TTAM Research Institute pledged to honor 23andMe’s privacy policies, let customers delete their data or opt out of research and form a Consumer Privacy Advisory Board within 90 days of closing.
  • Since 23andMe’s Chapter 11 filing in March, about 1.9 million customers—around 15 percent—have requested deletion of their genetic information.