A sight of the 23andMe head office in Sunnyvale, California, on March 25, 2025.
Tayfun Coskun|Anadolu|Getty Images
23andMe founder Linda Avey required to social media sites on Wednesday to express frustration regarding the destiny of the once-thriving hereditary screening business that spiraled right into Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy security today.
Avey assisted launch 23andMe in 2006 together with Paul Cusenza and Anne Wojcicki, that surrendered as chief executive officer onFriday The business went mainstream because of its prominent home DNA screening packages, yet had a hard time in the last few years to produce persisting income, stand feasible therapies and study companies and lighten personal privacy issues.
“My time at the company was cut short in 2009, when my co-founder Anne convinced the board that she should run the company,” Avey composed in an article on social media sites website X. “And I must be honest, I was frustrated with the direction the company took after that point.”
23andMe, which got to a peak market cap of regarding $6 billion, deserved around $14 million since market close on Wednesday.
“Without continued consumer-focused product development, and without governance, 23andMe lost its way, and society missed a key opportunity in furthering the idea of personalized health,” Avey composed.
Last March, 23andMe’s independent supervisors developed an unique board to assess the business’s possible courses ahead. All 7 participants surrendered from the board in September and claimed they differed with Wojcicki regarding the “strategic direction for the company.”
“After my departure, she architected a majority vote for herself that eliminated board governance, even as it expanded over the following funding rounds,” Avey claimed. “For better or worse, the buck stopped with her. It came as no surprise when the board resigned last year.”
Wojcicki sent numerous propositions to take the business personal herself, yet all were declined, also after the business assigned brand-new board participants. The unique board “unanimously determined to reject” Wojcicki’s latest proposition previously this month.
If 23andMe’s Chapter 11 strategy is authorized by the court, the business will certainly “actively solicit qualified bids” over a 45-day procedure. Wojcicki still intends to go after the business as an independent prospective buyer, she claimed in an article on X on Monday.
“There are many cautionary tales buried in the 23andMe story,” Avey claimed. “Striking a balance between the desire for founder control and board oversight is essential; otherwise, why have a board at all?”
23andMe did not quickly reply to’s ask for remark.
