23andMe Plans To Go Private

Anne Wojcicki, the CEO of 23andMe, the DNA-testing company, is planning to take her company private. This comes after being a public company for three years. The move follows a collapse in the company’s valuation from a high of $6 billion down to $200 million. The company’s shares are currently trading at 33 cents. The decline in 23andMe’s valuation could be attributed to a declining demand of its DNA tests. Additionally, the company also tried to implement a subscription model, but that also wasn’t popular since users only have to take the test one time.

Wojcicki had equally pivoted the company to a drug development company, since they have a large database of DNA data. However, prescription drug discovery and production is a time taking and capital intensive business that could take almost a decade before a prescription drug gets to the market.

23andMe was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki in 2006.