The views of 23andMe headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, March 25, 2025.
Tayfun Coskun |Anadoru | Getty Images
23andme Co-founder Linda Avey took her to social media on Wednesday to express her frustration about the fate of a formerly brilliant genetic testing company that was caught up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.
Avey, along with Paul Cusenza and Anne Wojcicki, who resigned as CEOs on Friday, helped launch 23andme in 2006. The company has become mainstream due to its popular DNA test kits, but in recent years it has struggled to generate recurring revenues, stand-up-friendly treatments and research business, as well as privacy concerns.
“My time at my company was reduced in 2009 when my co-founder Anne convinced the board that the company should run,” Avey wrote in a post on social media site X.
23Andme, which reached a market capitalization of around $6 billion, was worth around $14 million at the time of market shutdown Wednesday.
“Without continued consumer-centric product development and without governance, 23andme would have lost its way and society missed out on important opportunities to promote personalized health ideas,” writes Avey.
Last March, 23AndMe’s independent directors established a special committee to assess the company’s potential pathways. All seven members resigned from the board in September and said they opposed Wojcicki about the “strategic direction of the company.”
“After my departure, she designed her own majority vote to eliminate board governance, even if it expanded with the following funding round,” Avey said. “For better or worse, Buck stopped with her. When the board resigned last year, that wasn’t surprising.”
Wojcicki submitted multiple proposals to take the company privately, but was rejected all of it even after the company appointed a new board member. The special committee “decided to unanimously reject Wojcicki’s latest proposal earlier this month.
If 23Andme’s Chapter 11 plan is approved by the court, the company will “actively solicit qualifying bids” through a 45-day process. Wojcicki plans to pursue the company as an independent bidder, she said in a post on X on Monday.
“There’s a lot of attentional material buried in the 23andme story,” Avey said. “It’s essential to balance the founder’s control with the board’s desire to oversee. Otherwise, why do you have the board?”
23Andme did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
