In a nutshell: Genetics firm 23andMe has had a brutal 2024. The tech financial system has not usually been good, however the agency additionally suffered an information leak. It then blamed its prospects for the breach, adopted swiftly by accusations to the FTC of working an auto-renewal rip-off. To keep away from chapter, the corporate is restructuring, shedding half its staff.
Residence genetics firm 23andMe continues to wrestle as demand for informal gene tracing declines. On Monday, the corporate introduced that it has determined on a restructuring plan to assist scale back bills. A major a part of the downsizing is eliminating round 200 positions, about 40 p.c of 23andMe’s workforce. The corporate estimates that the employment discount will save greater than $35 million per yr whereas solely costing it a one-time working expense of $12 million for severance packages and associated prices.
“We’re taking these troublesome however crucial actions as we restructure 23andMe and deal with the long-term success of our core client enterprise…” stated 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki. “We’re totally dedicated to supporting the staff impacted by this transition.”
Layoffs will start with staff working in departments that 23andMe plans to section out. The corporate’s restructuring plan consists of discontinuing its therapeutics division. This division was conducting analysis into most cancers therapies and monoclonal therapies. Whereas it’s closing in-house therapeutics testing and analysis, Wojcicki stated 23andMe intends to proceed its work in these areas utilizing “strategic partnerships.”
“We proceed to consider within the promise proven by our medical and preclinical stage pipeline and can proceed to pursue strategic alternatives to proceed their improvement,” Wojcicki stated.
Impacted staff in these divisions nonetheless have somewhat time, as 23andMe indicated that it’s not instantly shuttering the labs. Nevertheless, it’s winding down medical testing “as shortly as sensible.” The corporate didn’t point out particulars on its potential analysis companions.
The struggles that 23andMe is dealing with usually are not all that shocking. Residence genetic testing is a one-and-done affair. Upon getting your genetic profile, it’s pointless to pay for it once more. It is not a really sustainable enterprise mannequin out of the gate, and it is shocking to study that that is the a part of the enterprise the corporate selected to maintain.
Contributing to its troubles, 23andMe suffered an information breach earlier this yr that uncovered a small proportion of its buyer base. The leak was comparatively minor, leading to solely about 14,000 impacted accounts. Nevertheless, as a substitute of taking duty, the corporate blamed its prospects, saying that the breach occurred due to “recycled credentials” that hackers obtained in an unrelated incident. It additionally admitted later that it had uncared for to note that the intruders have been siphoning knowledge for over 5 months.
Extra not too long ago, 23andMe had hassle with the FTC after prospects complained that its subscription service was a rip-off. In March, at the least 133 prospects stated the corporate auto-renewed their subscriptions with out consent and wouldn’t difficulty refunds. Gizmodo famous that in some situations, customers stated that they had bodily canceled their membership earlier than the top of their subscription, however 23andMe charged them as if the cancellation hadn’t occurred.
In a nutshell: Genetics firm 23andMe has had a brutal 2024. The tech financial system has not usually been good, however the agency additionally suffered an information leak. It then blamed its prospects for the breach, adopted swiftly by accusations to the FTC of working an auto-renewal rip-off. To keep away from chapter, the corporate is restructuring, shedding half its staff.
Residence genetics firm 23andMe continues to wrestle as demand for informal gene tracing declines. On Monday, the corporate introduced that it has determined on a restructuring plan to assist scale back bills. A major a part of the downsizing is eliminating round 200 positions, about 40 p.c of 23andMe’s workforce. The corporate estimates that the employment discount will save greater than $35 million per yr whereas solely costing it a one-time working expense of $12 million for severance packages and associated prices.
“We’re taking these troublesome however crucial actions as we restructure 23andMe and deal with the long-term success of our core client enterprise…” stated 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki. “We’re totally dedicated to supporting the staff impacted by this transition.”
Layoffs will start with staff working in departments that 23andMe plans to section out. The corporate’s restructuring plan consists of discontinuing its therapeutics division. This division was conducting analysis into most cancers therapies and monoclonal therapies. Whereas it’s closing in-house therapeutics testing and analysis, Wojcicki stated 23andMe intends to proceed its work in these areas utilizing “strategic partnerships.”
“We proceed to consider within the promise proven by our medical and preclinical stage pipeline and can proceed to pursue strategic alternatives to proceed their improvement,” Wojcicki stated.
Impacted staff in these divisions nonetheless have somewhat time, as 23andMe indicated that it’s not instantly shuttering the labs. Nevertheless, it’s winding down medical testing “as shortly as sensible.” The corporate didn’t point out particulars on its potential analysis companions.
The struggles that 23andMe is dealing with usually are not all that shocking. Residence genetic testing is a one-and-done affair. Upon getting your genetic profile, it’s pointless to pay for it once more. It is not a really sustainable enterprise mannequin out of the gate, and it is shocking to study that that is the a part of the enterprise the corporate selected to maintain.
Contributing to its troubles, 23andMe suffered an information breach earlier this yr that uncovered a small proportion of its buyer base. The leak was comparatively minor, leading to solely about 14,000 impacted accounts. Nevertheless, as a substitute of taking duty, the corporate blamed its prospects, saying that the breach occurred due to “recycled credentials” that hackers obtained in an unrelated incident. It additionally admitted later that it had uncared for to note that the intruders have been siphoning knowledge for over 5 months.
Extra not too long ago, 23andMe had hassle with the FTC after prospects complained that its subscription service was a rip-off. In March, at the least 133 prospects stated the corporate auto-renewed their subscriptions with out consent and wouldn’t difficulty refunds. Gizmodo famous that in some situations, customers stated that they had bodily canceled their membership earlier than the top of their subscription, however 23andMe charged them as if the cancellation hadn’t occurred.
