The consumer genome sequencing company 23andMe is a sinking ship – and its CEO is conducting the orchestra.
As Wired reports, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki was chipper on a February 7 earnings call despite the company’s abysmal revenue report that led to its stock being devalued to below 75 cents per share, down a whopping 93 percent from the $16.04 when it first went public.
“We are an unusual company,” Wojcicki said, per Wired, during the investor call.
While its therapeutic wing has been in the works for years, the database that undergirds its slow-going research, which is gleaned from its customers’ genetic information, may also have spelled the beginning of its downfall. That database was the subject of a massive hack last year, and between that breach and the money it burned in the years since going public, things are looking bleak.
To be fair, Wojcicki’s Pollyanna-ism isn’t entirely blind. In an interview with Bloomberg last week, she seemed to at least acknowledge the financial hit the company’s therapeutic arm has brought upon it.
“When we decided to do drug discovery,” she said, “it was a commitment to saying we are going to be burning cash.”
