23andMe Founder Aims To Restart Auction With Major Corporate Backing (reuters.com) 14
Anne Wojcicki has asked a U.S. judge to reopen the auction for 23andMe, claiming she has backing from a $400+ billion Fortune 500 company. Reuters reports: South San Francisco, California-based 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, seeking to sell its business at auction after a decline in consumer demand and a 2023 data breach that exposed sensitive genetic and personal information of millions of customers. Last month, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy the firm for $256 million, topping a $146 million bid from Wojcicki and TTAM Research Institute, which was founded by Wojcicki and describes itself as a California non-profit public benefit corporation.
In a filing dated May 31, Wojcicki claimed that 23andMe's debtors had attempted to tilt the sales process away from TTAM and in favor of Regeneron. TTAM and Wojcicki said in the filing that 23andMe's financial and legal advisers unfairly capped their maximum bid at $250 million due to misplaced concerns about TTAM's "financial wherewithal." The plaintiffs said the auction was prematurely concluded before they had the opportunity to submit a bid that would have exceeded $280 million.
The company's debtors said the auction results came after an extensive and careful consideration by a four-member special committee of independent directors, according to the filing. According to another filing, 23andMe is seeking court approval to let Wojcicki and Regeneron submit final proposals by June 12. 23andMe is also seeking a $10 million breakup fee for Regeneron if Wojcicki's bid is ultimately accepted.
In a filing dated May 31, Wojcicki claimed that 23andMe's debtors had attempted to tilt the sales process away from TTAM and in favor of Regeneron. TTAM and Wojcicki said in the filing that 23andMe's financial and legal advisers unfairly capped their maximum bid at $250 million due to misplaced concerns about TTAM's "financial wherewithal." The plaintiffs said the auction was prematurely concluded before they had the opportunity to submit a bid that would have exceeded $280 million.
The company's debtors said the auction results came after an extensive and careful consideration by a four-member special committee of independent directors, according to the filing. According to another filing, 23andMe is seeking court approval to let Wojcicki and Regeneron submit final proposals by June 12. 23andMe is also seeking a $10 million breakup fee for Regeneron if Wojcicki's bid is ultimately accepted.
Congratulations, your DNA and other info is up for (Score:2)
Through no action on your part. One night, while reading the papers for anything you've missed in the obituaries, the phone rings. Would you mind coming downtown to the station...
Re: (Score:2)
Your DNA data was always for sale, long before this. That's literally how the company has always made money, by selling DNA data to research and pharmaceutical firms.
DNA testing again? (Score:2)
Another problem is those tests and privacy - it beggars credibility believing that every DNA test result won't be going to law enforcement as a matter of standard operations. A lot of people don't like providing evidence against themselves.
Third problem is minor, but "23 and Me" sounds like the na
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think a lot of people worry or think much about the law enforcement access angle. Most of the public does not imagine themselves commiting any crime anyone would take seriously enough to send samples off to a lab over.
I think far more people have experienced 'corporate surveillance' in some way that harms them. Think their homeowners policy going up because the laytex swimming pool shows up in a sat photo..
Auto insurers pushing the GPS monitors, or heard stories about sucking data out of the wrecks
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Then there was the big question about what would happen to the 23&me data would some insurance company buy it etc. For the part of the population that actually looks at their pay stub, health insurance is probably the biggest deduction. Sure it ended up not playing out that way exactly this time but does anyone think that won't be the case next time round. Even if medical insurance is restricted on how they use information on pre-existing conditions that does not mean others are. What if an auto insurer looked at your age and knew you had some genetic marker that suggested dementia in your future? I don't think there is anything that would stop them from pricing that enhanced risk in or deciding to not offer a policy at all same things for other coverage like umbrella.
These fears are imaginary. If insurance companies were allowed or needed your DNA, they would just require testing as part of underwriting. For example, life insurance companies already test for cholesterol. It would be trivial for them to run genetic test on the same sample.
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It isn't a sustainable business model. It is not set up for people doing multiple testing
1) Periodic marketing on new data processing of the known DNA sequence. Customers may want to purchase new reports every 5-10 years:
* updated data on risks of specific diseases as literature identifies better which mutations confer risk or resistance to cancer etc.
* updated data on their susceptibility to some treatments. Some treatments are known to work better or worse on people with certain mutations. You only know you need it several years later the original sequencing purchase, and literature data chan
Re: (Score:2)
It isn't a sustainable business model. It is not set up for people doing multiple testing
1) Periodic marketing on new data processing of the known DNA sequence. Customers may want to purchase new reports every 5-10 years: * updated data on risks of specific diseases as literature identifies better which mutations confer risk or resistance to cancer etc. * updated data on their susceptibility to some treatments. Some treatments are known to work better or worse on people with certain mutations. You only know you need it several years later the original sequencing purchase, and literature data changes. 2) Sequencing saliva or gut bacteria to solve some digestion / inflammation issues. This needs to be done on fresh samples and possibly several times as this evolves with your diet.
I'm not making this up, this is summary of marketing I get in my inbox from the company I have been using, which apparently manages to survive.
Do they do paternity testing? That's going to be a growth market. There is a lot of push for DNA testing at birth, before the father signs the birth certificate. Which only makes sense, since he's liable for 20 plus years of support, and would probably like to know that the child he is responsible is actually his.
No Way (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't like any of these people but those who use the service have infinitely better privacy guarantees with Regeneron than Wojcicki.
FDA would clobber a drug company for selling genetic data to advertising or insurance companies.
Which may be why the Tech Bros have a pile of cash to hijack the Court process.
How do auctions work? (Score:2)
I wonder if the courts... (Score:1)