23andMe’s headache got even worse Tuesday after seven members of its eight-person board resigned in unison, citing differences on the company’s “strategic direction” as the reason. The pioneering DNA testing firm has been in turmoil for much of 2024, with its revenue tanking and its stock price falling so far, to just $.35 a share as of Wednesday afternoon, that it risks being taken off Nasdaq index if it can’t get its share price back above $1 soon, The Washington Post reported. That’s a massive fall off from when CEO Anne Wojcicki took 23andMe public in 2021 with a valuation of $3.1 billion. Wojcicki is now the company’s lone board member. The embattled executive wrote to her remaining staff that she was both surprised and disappointed at the resignations in an email obtained by the Post. Wojcicki, 51, added that taking the company private “will be the best opportunity for long term success.” The decision to go private has been controversial, with concerns swirling that a shady actor could purchase troves of sensitive DNA data amassed from its popular test kits.
