All the independent directors of the board of DNA testing company 23andMe apart from the CEO have announced their resignation in another blow to the company.
In a letter to the company’s CEO, Anne Wojcicki, posted publicly on 17 September, Roelof Botha, Patrick Chung, Sandra Hernández, Neal Mohan, Valerie Montgomery Rice, Richard Scheller and Peter J. Taylor said: “Dear Anne,
“We, the independent directors of the 23andMe Board, hereby tender our resignations, effective immediately.
“After months of work, we have yet to receive from you a fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal that is in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders. We believe the Special Committee and the Board have provided ample time for you to submit such a proposal. That we have not seen any notable progress over the last 5 months leads us to believe no such proposal is forthcoming. The Special Committee is therefore unwilling to consider further extensions, and the Board agrees with the Special Committee's determination.
“While we continue to wholeheartedly support the Company's mission and believe deeply in the value of the personalized health and wellness offering that you have articulated, it is also clear that we differ on the strategic direction for the Company going forward. Because of that difference and because of your concentrated voting power, we believe that it is in the best interests of the Company's shareholders that we resign from the Board rather than have a protracted and distracting difference of view with you as to the direction of the Company.
“We are proud of what 23andMe has achieved in pioneering direct access to genetic information, and we have been honored to have had the opportunity to be part of those efforts.”
In August, 23andMe rejected a proposal from Wojcicki to take the company private by buying all shares not already owned by her at $0.40 per share.
23andMe, one of the world’s leading DNA testing companies, has seen its share price plummet since it went public in February 2021, from $17.65 to $0.37 as of August 2024.
Following the board’s resignation, the share price fell further to $0.30, before bouncing back to $0.35.
The company also suffered a major data breach in October 2023, when hackers breached about 14,000 customers’ accounts, gaining access to the data of 6.9 million people who were listed as those users’ relations on the site.
The breach is currently being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
On 13 September, 23andMe agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit by affected customers. The lawsuit also alleged that the company didn’t properly notify customers with Chinese or Ashkenazi Jewish heritage that hackers appeared to target them.
In its court filing, 23andMe said that it has an “extremely uncertain financial condition”.
The company has also suspended some DNA Relatives features, citing privacy and security concerns.
Anne Wojcicki said: “I am surprised and disappointed by the decision of the directors to resign.
"I have been committed to the mission of 23andMe for the last 18 years and believe strongly in the potential for genetic information to transform healthcare and the therapeutic discovery process. I remain committed to our customers, my employees and to our stockholders to achieve our goals. I continue to believe that we will be better positioned to achieve our mission and goals outside of the short term pressures of the public markets and that taking 23andMe private will be the best opportunity for long term success.
"We will immediately begin identifying independent directors to join the board. I want to thank the directors for their service to the company and its stockholders.”
Family historians who have taken a DNA test with 23andMe have expressed concern about the future of their data, but in August 2024 a 23andMe spokesperson told Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine: “23andMe is committed to the continual improvement of its ancestry features, and supporting family historians.”
Whether this commitment will continue in the light of these latest developments is yet to be seen. Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine editor Sarah Williams said, "With so much uncertainty currently around the future of 23andMe, I would recommend all family historians who have tested with the company to consider downloading their raw data and health reports."
