23andMe files for bankruptcy, CEO resigns – National [Video]

23andMe on Sunday filed for bankruptcy in the United States after struggling with the fallout of a data breach and weak demand for its ancestry testing kits that featured in Oprah Winfrey’s annual list of favorite things just eight years ago.

The biotech unicorn has seen a sharp fall in its market value since then. On Monday, its shares fell 46 per cent to 96 cents after co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki, who made multiple failed takeover bids, also resigned.

Wojcicki will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Joe Selsavage on an interim basis.

In 2021, billionaire Richard Branson’s SPAC took 23andMe public at a $3.5 billion valuation. AncestryDNA, which offers similar tests, was also bought by Blackstone Group that same year, despite slowing sales for both the genetic testing companies.

A five-month-long data breach in 2023 that exposed personal data of nearly seven million customers, dealt a major blow to …