This Start-Up’s Entire Board Resigned On The Same Day. Here’s What Happened.

The company 23andMe is based out of San Francisco and is now left with a single board member, Wojcicki who controls 49.75 per cent of the voting rights

Recently, Wojcicki said that she can save the company, however, the process to do the same is ‘absolutely complicated’

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DNA testing company, 23andMe, saw all its board members resign in September after a month-long battle regarding co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki’s plans to take the firm private. The company, based out of San Francisco, is now left with a single board member, Wojcicki who controls 49.75 per cent of the voting rights.

Sharing their opinion in a public letter, the other board members, including YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Sequoia Capital head Roelof Botha, said that they ‘wholeheartedly’ believed in the company’s mission to personalise healthcare with genetic data. However, they wrote that they didn’t agree with Wojcicki’s direction for the firm, reported Moneycontrol.

In a recent conversation with Fortune, Wojcicki revealed that she could move the start-up away from the position it has found itself in, however, the process to do the same is ‘absolutely complicated’. 

The news agency reported that the company has not managed to turn a profit ever since going public in 2021. Its price on IPO day stood at $10, however, in 2024 so far, it is yet to reach a $1 valuation. After the resignation of all its board members, the company’s share plunged to hit a rock bottom of $0.30. At the same time, the firm’s valuation plummeted from $6 billion in 2021 to a little under $150 million.

The company experienced a decline in sales and a massive data breach led to worries regarding privacy, followed by the closure of the company’s drug discovery business. This is when Wojcicki called for a plan to buy the company and take it private. However, the board didn’t take lightly to the proposal as it didn’t offer any premium to the shareholders.

Since, Wojcicki controlled the majority voting rights of the company, the board ended up in a standoff which eventually saw all the members resign. She noted that her extra voting rights were a recognition of her dedication to the firm’s success. “I’ve always said ever since the very beginning, I don’t need to be in charge. There’s no ego for me. I care about the vision and the mission,” she said while speaking to the media agency.