Customer DNA at 23andMe will remain private for now; CEO no longer wants to sell to a third party

DNA submitted by users to the genealogy company 23andMe will remain private for now, with CEO Anne Wojcicki saying she no longer wants a third-party acquisition of the company.

The company is looking to refill its board after all of the independent directors resigned earlier this month. Ms. Wojcicki had previously dropped her opposition to a third-party takeover of the company last month, but she has returned to her original position.

“I stated that I would consider third-party takeover proposals for 23andMe. … It has become even clearer to me that the best path forward for the issuer is for me to take the company private. Accordingly, in order to update my prior statement and avoid any confusion in the market, I am no longer open to considering third party takeover proposals for [23andMe],” Ms. Wojcicki said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

If 23andMe were sold to a third party, the buyer could theoretically sell or use the data collected by it previously for other purposes. In the SEC filing, Ms. Wojcicki said that “I remain committed to our customers’ privacy and pledge to maintain the issuer’s current privacy policy in effect for the foreseeable future.”

Ms. Wojcicki, a co-founder of the company, has 49% of voting power and owns more than 20% of company shares.

The company does prompt users to choose whether they want their data to be available for use in genetic and medical research, with about 80% choosing to allow their data to be used.

“For our customers, our focus continues to be on transparency and choice over how they want their data to be managed,” 23andMe spokesperson Andy Kill told NPR, adding that the 80% rate has “held steady for many years.”

Law enforcement is not allowed to access the 23andMe database, Mr. Kill said. 23andMe extended its initial research agreement with the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline for one more year in October 2023.

The company has previously been the target of a data breach in 2023, which saw 14,000 accounts and about 6.9 million associated DNA profiles accessed by hackers. The company reached a $30 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit concerning the breach last month, according to The Associated Press.