23andMe founder isn't giving up her bid to regain control

Anne Wojcicki has asked the judge in bankruptcy proceedings for 23andMe, the genetic testing company she founded and led until earlier this year, to allow additional bids for the business.

23andMe looked set to be acquired by biopharma group Regeneron after a $256 million takeover deal was agreed last month, but Wojcicki now says she wants to table a new offer backed by "a Fortune 500 company," according to court documents.

23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, prompting the resignation of Wojcicki, who earlier launched a bid to take 23andMe private with a $0.40 per share offer, valuing the company at around $40 million, which was rejected by the board. At the time, Wojcicki said that stepping down would make it easier for her to pursue a deal as an independent bidder.

In her request to the court, Wojcicki claimed that the earlier auction process was biased in favour of Regeneron, which has indicated it hopes to complete the takeover in the third quarter of this year.

In particular, she said the bid tabled by her investment vehicle TTAM Research Institute had been capped at $250 million, due to concerns about its financial "wherewithal," and otherwise their offer would have been greater than $280 million.

23andMe has said it wants to allow new bids by both parties with a deadline of 12th June, according to a Financial Times report, which suggested Regeneron may get the option to make a counter-offer if Wojcicki's bid prevails.

23andMe was founded 19 years ago to provide saliva-based genetic testing of health and ancestry to consumers, going public in 2021 with a valuation of around $6 billion.

Management said it was looking to sell the business in January, a few weeks after announcing job losses that cut its headcount by around 40%, whilst also announcing an exit from drug discovery and development operations as it tried to slice $35 million off its annual costs.

Revenues grew swiftly in its first few years but have shifted into reverse, falling more than a quarter to $220 million last year, in part because genetic testing does not generally call for any repeat business, and orders for kits have been falling.

The company was also forced to settle a lawsuit last year alleging it had failed to protect customers' privacy after a data breach, and lost GSK as a partner for its drug discovery activities, further hitting its finances.

Last week, 23andMe said it would voluntarily delist from the Nasdaq and de-register with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of the bankruptcy process.