Comment by LarsDu88

Comment by LarsDu88 3 days ago

Virtually impossible as Anne Wojcicki holds 20% of the outstanding shares and 49% of the voting power of total outstanding shares. That's essentially dictator-level power over the company. I believe the next largest shareholder is Richard Branson. Source: https://investors.23andme.com/news-releases/news-release-det...

Despite the promising drug development news, the CEO signaled last month that she was willing to let public investors get hosed, with a low ball take-private offer of $0.40/share. I believe this pissed both public investors and the board members off. I'm not sure if the positive phase 2 results were icing on the cake.

Quite honestly this company is a ripe target for acquisition by a biopharma company like GSK or Roche.

toomuchtodo 3 days ago

Regrettable. I suppose the alternative path is to let them go bankrupt and to get bought out of bankruptcy. That should wipe out all equity holders. If you’re a potential bidder, get your financing or cash lined up.

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javierluraschi 3 days ago

She (the CEO) has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. Intentionally driving a company into bankruptcy for personal gain is a massive breach of that duty and opens her up to all kinds of legal trouble. So I would think that's a very bad idea.

Reply View | 9 replies
- toomuchtodo 3 days ago
  
  They're going bankrupt because they're almost out of cash [1]. The CEO is holding public investors hostage with the low ball take private offer LarsDu88 mentioned. The stock, NASDAQ: ME, currently trades at 29 cents/share [2] and will be delisted shortly [3]. Their failure to secure their customer DNA data with MFA cost them a $30M fine they must pay [4].
  My comment you replied to was attempting to communicate that, because the CEO holds most of the control over the company, it is preferable to let it slip into bankruptcy (where equity and their control will be wiped out) vs continuing allowing them the control they have, which is not leading to a favorable outcome for the enterprise. This is potentially superior to recapitalizing the existing enterprise and continuing to allow the CEO to light capital on fire.
  [1] https://investors.23andme.com/news-releases/news-release-det... (draw your attention to quarterly burn rate and cash on hand)
  [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ME/
  [3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-10/strugglin... |https://archive.today/yTo01
  [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41536494
  
  Reply View | 5 replies
  
  LarsDu88 3 days ago
  
  At that burn rate it seems like the only recourse other than a buy out offer from another company at this point is to shutdown everything not related to cancer drug development and self-financing that endeavor.
  
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  javierluraschi 3 days ago
  
  I'm just arguing that she can't let the company go bankrupt when she placed a bid for $0.40. Even if she could, she could loose control of the company when all shareholders get wiped out, not sure the court will let her keep 70% through bankruptcy.
  
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- ShufflerL 3 days ago
  
  reminds me of Elizabeth Holmes, of Theranos fame. I wonder what will happen...How big or hyped up is 23andme?
  
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  justinclift 3 days ago
  
  Unless the data turns out to be fraudulent (ugh!), then 23 & Me seems like it has actually promising products currently going through their development process(es).
  
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  red-iron-pine 2 days ago
  
  nah. 23andMe actually works. they use real science to do genome sequencing, and that's provable. Theranos never worked, and was nothing but lies and hype.
  But having working science does not make a successful business plan.
  
  Reply View | 0 replies