(Bloomberg) — DNA testing firm 23andMe Holding Co.’s shares soared after Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki said she’s considering taking the struggling company private, less than three years after it began selling shares.
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Wojcicki told board members she is proposing to acquire the company in a potential go-private transaction, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock, which has traded below $1 a share since late last year, rose as much as 33% on Thursday, the biggest jump since August 2022, before paring some of the gain.
23andMe agreed to go public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company founded by billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. At the time, it was valued at $3.5 billion. In just a few years, the stock has lost more than 90% of its value as the personalized DNA revolution the company heralded has been slow to catch on.
In the filing, Wojcicki indicated that she plans to maintain control of the company and “will not be willing to support any alternative transaction.” The filing said she was working with advisers and intended to begin speaking to potential partners and financing sources. The Wednesday filing noted that she had informed members of a special committee of the board of the plan on April 13.
Company representatives declined to comment.
In February, Wojcicki told Bloomberg she was considering a number of strategies to revive the company’s sagging stock price, among them splitting the company’s drug-development business from its consumer spit kit business.
As sales of its DNA testing kits have slowed in recent years, 23andMe has pivoted to offering subscription products in hopes of creating repeat customers for its consumer business. Its latest product, Total Health, is a $1,188 program that includes blood tests and regular check-ins with company health-care providers in addition to DNA testing. Wojcicki hopes to move the company further into the business of health-care delivery, and making it a necessity for people interested in preventive care.
But the subscription business has so far not generated the numbers of sign-ups the company initially hoped it might, while the drug development business burns cash with profits still likely years away.
(Updates share trading.)
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