23andMe users warned to delete data after bankruptcy filing

The biotech and genomic company voluntarily entered bankruptcy court in Missouri, according to a Sunday statement. 23andMe also announced that co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki agreed to immediately step down in a mutual deal with the company’s board of directors’ special committee. Both announcements came after a failed company takeover by Wojcicki earlier this month. Wojcicki plans to continue pursuing the company as an independent bidder, according to a Monday social media post. 23andMe emerged as one of the first at-home DNA testing giants after its 2006 founding and eventually peaked in 2021 at a value of about $6 billion.

What does this mean for the company going forward? 23andMe’s operations will continue as usual throughout the process, but leaders ultimately hope to sell the company’s assets, according to the statement. The company already sought approval from the federal bankruptcy court to sell a majority of its assets. Estimates place the company’s total assets and liabilities within a range of $100 million and $500 million, according to the federal filing.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta reminded citizens of their right to data privacy ahead of the company’s formal bankruptcy announcement. Bonta gave step-by-step instructions for users to delete any data collected and stored by 23andMe. Users could also have their submitted test samples destroyed or revoke previous consent for samples to be used by researchers, Bonta’s office wrote in a Friday statement.

Dig deeper: Read my report from 2023 on hackers who leaked data belonging to nearly 7 million 23andMe users.