(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, lower than three years after it began selling shares.
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Wojcicki told board members she is proposing to build up the company in a possible go-private transaction, in accordance with a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock, which has traded below $1 a share since late last yr, rose as much as 33% on Thursday, the most important jump since August 2022, before paring among the many 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. On the time, it was valued at $3.5 billion. In just a few years, the stock has lost greater than 90% of its value since the personalized DNA revolution the company heralded has been slow to catch on.
Inside the filing, Wojcicki indicated that she plans to maintain control of the company and “won’t be willing to support any alternative transaction.” The filing said she was working with advisers and intended to start out chatting with 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 various strategies to revive the company’s sagging stock price, amongst them splitting the company’s drug-development business from its consumer spit kit business.
As sales of its DNA testing kits have slowed currently, 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 features blood tests and regular check-ins with company health-care providers together with DNA testing. Wojcicki hopes to maneuver the company further into the business of health-care delivery, and making it a necessity for people inquisitive about preventive care.
Nevertheless the subscription business has so far not generated the numbers of sign-ups the company initially hoped it’d, while the drug development business burns money with profits still likely years away.
(Updates share trading.)
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