Latest news with #JoeSelsavage
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Almost 2 million 23andMe users have asked the company to delete their data in the last 2 months
23andMe's database is shrinking as customers request to delete their data. Interim CEO Joseph Selsavage said 1.9 million customers have asked for data deletions. 23andMe said its business could be "adversely affected" if the trend continues. The hits just keep on coming for 23andMe. Although the embattled genetic testing giant has found a new owner, pending court and regulatory approval, nearly 2 million customers have asked to delete their data from its database since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and put the company up for sale in March. Interim CEO Joe Selsavage revealed the number of deletion requests on Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee hearing. He attended the hearing with Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe's cofounder and former CEO. "Since we announced bankruptcy, we've had 1.9 million customers call and request that we delete their data, and we have done so within a reasonable timeframe," Selsavage said, adding that's about 15% of its user base. 23andMe's bankruptcy announcement came after a tumultuous 2024 that was marred by a $30 million class action settlement, layoffs, and the resignation of its entire board of independent directors, among other issues. In May, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said it intended to acquire 23andMe for $256 million, but the sale has received pushback from lawmakers. Attorneys general from over half of the states in the US and the District of Columbia sued 23andMe on Monday to block it from selling genetic data without customer consent. 23andMe's annual report, published Wednesday, also addressed customers' requests to delete data. As of May 31, the company said its user base had dwindled to about 14 million personal genome service customers. "We have experienced and expect to continue to experience significant declines in PGS revenues in the near-term as a result of the Chapter 11 Cases, the Cyber Incident, negative media coverage, the pending Transaction, and other general market and economic trends," the company said in its annual report. The company added that customer fluctuation could impact the size of its database. "If the number of our customers consenting to participate in our research programs declines or fails to grow, our research services revenue may be adversely affected, and our database may become less effective in facilitating our ability to create new features, products, and services to offer to our customers," the company said. Representatives for 23andMe did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Almost 2 million 23andMe users have asked the company to delete their data in the last 2 months
The hits just keep on coming for 23andMe. Although the embattled genetic testing giant has found a new owner, pending court and regulatory approval, nearly 2 million customers have asked to delete their data from its database since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and put the company up for sale in March. Interim CEO Joe Selsavage revealed the number of deletion requests on Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee hearing. He attended the hearing with Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe's cofounder and former CEO. "Since we announced bankruptcy, we've had 1.9 million customers call and request that we delete their data, and we have done so within a reasonable timeframe," Selsavage said, adding that's about 15% of its user base. 23andMe's bankruptcy announcement came after a tumultuous 2024 that was marred by a $30 million class action settlement, layoffs, and the resignation of its entire board of independent directors, among other issues. In May, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said it intended to acquire 23andMe for $256 million, but the sale has received pushback from lawmakers. Attorneys general from over half of the states in the US and the District of Columbia sued 23andMe on Monday to block it from selling genetic data without customer consent. 23andMe's annual report, published Wednesday, also addressed customers' requests to delete data. As of May 31, the company said its user base had dwindled to about 14 million personal genome service customers. "We have experienced and expect to continue to experience significant declines in PGS revenues in the near-term as a result of the Chapter 11 Cases, the Cyber Incident, negative media coverage, the pending Transaction, and other general market and economic trends," the company said in its annual report. The company added that customer fluctuation could impact the size of its database. "If the number of our customers consenting to participate in our research programs declines or fails to grow, our research services revenue may be adversely affected, and our database may become less effective in facilitating our ability to create new features, products, and services to offer to our customers," the company said.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
23andMe files for bankruptcy and will try to find a buyer
23andMe, a formerly high-flying genetic testing company, announced Sunday that it was declaring bankruptcy and that it would seek a buyer. The company also said CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki is resigning immediately and will be replaced by Chief Financial and Accounting Officer Joe Selsavage as interim chief executive. 23andMe moved in November to slash 40% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan, a step that came roughly two months after its entire board resigned. "We expect the court-supervised process will advance our efforts to address the operational and financial challenges we face, including further cost reductions and the resolution of legal and leasehold liabilities," 23andMe Chair Mark Jensen said in a statement. "We believe in the value of our people and our assets and hope that this process allows our mission of helping people access, understand and benefit from the human genome to live on for the benefit of customers and patients." 23andMe offers two basic kinds of services — consumer and therapeutics. The former provides people with information on their ancestry and genetic health profile, including the risk of passing on certain conditions to their children, according to S&P Capital IQ. The therapeutics unit works to develop treatments and conducts research into cancer, immune diseases and other conditions. Data privacy concerns 23andMe's struggles have raised concerns about the privacy of its customers' genetic data, which is used to trace people's ancestry, among other purposes. In filing for bankruptcy protection, the company said there will be no changes to how it manages and protects people's data. 23andMe users must explicitly affirm that the company may share their personal data, although people's data could be included as part of a sale of the company. Some states have passed privacy laws that would require a person's consent before their genetic data is transferred from one entity to another. In its bankruptcy announcement, 23andMe said any buyer of its assets would have to observe applicable privacy laws for customer data. The company has also previously said that any customer data it shares with other parties is anonymous and can't be traced to individual users. 23andMe also allows customers to delete their accounts. To do that, users must log in to their account and submit a request. The company will send an email confirming the request to delete the data, which the user must then verify. 23andMe's stock, which once traded for more than $300 a share, fell to 79 cents before the start of trade Monday. In January, 23andMe reported a third-quarter net loss of $26.8 million on revenue of $60.3 million, an improvement over its loss of $259.7 million on revenue of $44.7 million in the year-ago period. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. 23andMe said that, if granted approval in bankruptcy court, the company would solicit bids from potential acquirers over a 45-day period and potentially conduct an auction. One possible buyer is Wojcicki herself. The executive, who recently submitted an acquisition offer that 23andMe rejected earlier this month, said in a social media post Monday that she may again bid for 23andMe. "I have resigned as CEO of the company so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder," she wrote, adding that continues to believe in the company's brand and business. "We have had many successes but I equally take accountability for the challenges we have today. There is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andMe through an evolving business model have been real, but my belief in the company and its future is unwavering," she said. Raw Video: Mexican navy training ship hits Brooklyn Bridge Italy's Trulli: From Past to Present Will the House Republican budget be a sinking ship in the Senate? Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
23andMe CRO details data breach's role in bankruptcy
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. The drivers behind the once-highflying 23andMe's path to bankruptcy are myriad, with the chief restructuring officer partly pinning its financial woes on rising inflation, falling demand coupled with increased competition in the genetic testing kit space, and the 'one-time' nature of its sales, in a Monday court filing. At the same time, the fallout from a 2023 data breach which led to government investigations, lawsuits, and looming liabilities also played a pivotal role in the company's decline, according to a Monday first declaration filing from CRO Matthew Kvarda, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal North America who has served as interim CFO of distressed and non-distressed companies, including Revlon. Ultimately, despite drawing interest from buyers, the company decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday given 'its limited cash and operating cash burn, as well as the uncertainty surrounding the scope and extent of liabilities arising from the Cyber Security Incident, commencing these cases to stabilize the business and monetize its assets on a 'free and clear' basis through a chapter 11 plan or sale pursuant to section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, provided the best path to maximize value for the benefit of the Company's stakeholders,' according to the declaration. In a Monday press release, the company said it was seeking the bankruptcy court's approval to sell 'substantially all its assets' and use up to $35 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JMB Capital Partners along with cash generated from the business to keep operating. It also announced new leadership, picking CFO Joe Selsavage to take on the added role of interim CEO in the wake of co-founder Anne Wojcicki resigning as CEO while staying on the board, effectively immediately. Data management issues have continued to dog 23andMe after its bankrupcty filing: the website's login portal went down Monday evening as many customers rushed to delete their genetic data, with concerns fueled by the memory of a 'password hack' in 2023 that exposed 6.9 million people's information, The Wall Street Journal reported. At the same time, the company asserted in its Monday release that it would not change the way the company 'stores, manages or protects customer data.' In Kvarda's filing, the 2023 incident is described briefly. It notes that on Oct. 1, 2023 a 'threat actor' posted a claim online that it had 23and ME users' profile information. After learning of the incident, the company initially determined the actor was only able to access 0.1% of user accounts, 'in instances where usernames and passwords that were used on the company website were the same as those used on other websites that had been previously comprised or were otherwise available.' The company ultimately determined that personal information related to about 7 million customers was accessed, according to the filing. The legal fallout from the incident has included multiple legal actions threatened or filed in U.S. federal and state courts, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as 'various domestic and foreign governmental investigations,' according to the filing. The company said Monday that it wants to use the bankruptcy proceedings to resolve all outstanding legal liabilities stemming from the October cyber incident. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DNA testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy. What does that mean for your data?
Genetic testing company 23andMe announced on Sunday that it has filed for bankruptcy due to low demand for its ancestry kits and after a 2023 data breach damaged its reputation. The company, which has over 15 million customers worldwide, said it voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to 'facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business.' 23andMe is seeking authorization from a bankruptcy court in Missouri to 'sell substantially all of its assets.' The company's market value peaked at almost $6 billion after it went public in 2021, but 23andMe reported a 7% decline in revenue and losses of $174 million in the first nine months of its current fiscal year. The direct-to-consumer company has customers submit a saliva sample for their DNA to be analyzed either for ancestry purposes, family traits or for potential health risks. Part of the reason for the company's decline in earnings is due to waning interest in its testing kits. In 2023, hackers gained access to personal information from roughly 14,000 user accounts over a span of five months that appeared to target Jewish and Chinese users, which alarmed customers and heightened concern about the privacy of their data. It dealt a major blow to the company's reputation and prompted a class-action lawsuit that claimed the company did not protect users' personal information and failed to notify customers of the breach. 23andMe settled the lawsuit in December 2024, and agreed to establish a $30 million fund for cash payments and three years of security monitoring for affected customers. The company also announced Sunday that its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki is resigning from her role effective immediately after a failed attempt to take the company private, but will continue to serve on the board. The company plans to continue operating through the sales process and CFO Joe Selsavage will replace Wojcicki as interim chief executive. Concerns have since arisen that a transfer of the company's ownership could mean that a user's most sensitive genetic data could end up in unknown hands. 'There are no changes to the way the Company stores, manages, or protects customer data,' 23andMe said Sunday. Additionally, Mark Jensen, chair and member of the special committee of the board of directors at 23andMe said, 'We are committed to continuing to safeguard customer data and being transparent about the management of user data going forward, and data privacy will be an important consideration in any potential transaction.' The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, is a law that protects a person's private health information from being shared without the person's knowledge or consent. However, HIPAA only protects that type of information when it's provided to an entity like a hospital system, physician health plans or billing companies that conduct business with them. 23andMe is not subject to HIPAA regulations because it's a direct-to-consumer company outside of the health care realm. The person is treated as a consumer rather than a patient. 'That means that as long as their terms of service don't specifically prohibit it, these companies can conduct research on your genetic data, sell it, or share it with third parties,' James Hazel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Law Centre for Health and Life at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, told Consumer Reports. A person's genetic information could be used to their (or a relative's) detriment. For example, Mason Marks, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, told Consumer Reports that a worst-case scenario could be 'an employer or insurance company might find you have a predisposition to develop early onset Alzheimer's, cancer, mental illness, or substance use disorder, and discriminate against you based on that.' But isn't that illegal? The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 prohibits discrimination in a person's employment and health insurance based on a person's genetic makeup. 'Though that doesn't mean it couldn't happen,' Consumer Reports says. Or if 23andMe ends up being bought by a pharmaceutical company, the user could be targeted with ads based on results from their genetic tests. When it comes to law enforcement, 23andMe does not allow authorities to search their database. 'Unless required to do so by law, we will not release a customer's individual-level Personal Information to a law enforcement agency without asking for and receiving that customer's explicit consent,' the website states. 'More specifically, we will closely scrutinize all law enforcement requests and we will only comply with court orders, subpoenas, or search warrants that we determine are legally valid — we are prepared to exhaust available legal remedies to protect customer privacy.' California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a consumer alert on Friday to 23andMe users and provided instructions on how to delete genetic data from their accounts, how to instruct the company to delete their test sample and revoke permission for genetic data to be used for research. 'I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company,' Bonta said. The 23andMe website states: 'We recommend downloading any Personal information from within your Account Settings before submitting your deletion request.' The company provides a guide on how to download your data and has told CNET that some of the downloads can be delivered right away, while other files can take up to 30 days. If a user opted for 23andMe to store their saliva sample and DNA, the user can change that by going to the account settings page under 'preferences.' Here's how users can delete their account and personal information: Log into your 23andMe account and go to the 'Settings' section of your profile Scroll to a section labeled '23andMe Data' at the bottom of the page Click 'View' next to '23andMe Data' Scroll to the 'Delete Data' section Click 'Permanently Delete Data' Confirm your request: You'll receive an email from 23andMe; follow the link in the email to confirm your deletion request "If a customer opted in to 23andMe Research, their Personal Information will no longer be used in any future research projects," a 23andMe spokesperson told CNET. "Please note, data cannot be removed from research that's already been conducted."
