Bankrupt genetic analysis company 23andMe will hold a second auction for its cache of DNA data with an opening bid of $305 million from a group led by the company’s former chief executive officer, Anne Wojcicki.
The offer is nearly $50 million more than the last bid from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which had been declared the winner of the first auction last month, only to have the outcome challenged in court by Wojcicki. The company’s shares climbed as much as 25% to $4.96 once markets opened on Thursday.
The new auction is a compromise between Wojcicki, Regeneron and 23andMe, all of whom had come to federal court in St. Louis on Wednesday prepared to fight over the best way to set up a new round of bidding.
23andMe had initially proposed limits on the new auction that were questioned by US Bankruptcy Judge Brian Walsh. At the start of the hearing on Wednesday, Walsh asked lawyers for Regeneron and 23andMe to justify the proposed auction rules, including a $10 million breakup fee and a limit to the bidding, which he said may be “inefficient.”
Under the new rules, Wojcicki, who is partnering with a California-based research institute, would make a bid of $305 million, which Regeneron can counter with an offer that must be at least $315 million, company attorney Christopher Hopkins told Walsh. After that, Wojcicki and the research institute can make their final bid. If they do, Regeneron gets the chance to make the last offer of the auction.
“We don’t like the last look” rule that allows Regeneron to have the final bid, Wojcicki’s lawyer Susheel Kirpalani said during the hearing. But the new rules are an improvement and will allow Wojcicki and TTAM Research Institute to compete for 23andMe, he said.
Lawyers for shareholders and unsecured creditors also said they supported the new auction rules during the hearing.
All sides were in federal court in St. Louis on Wednesday to determine how to revive bidding after 23andMe held an auction last month. That round of bidding lasted three days with each side accusing 23andMe of unfairly favoring their competitor, Hopkins said. The company initially claimed Regeneron had won with a $256 million final bid offer.
Wojcicki objected, arguing the bidding was unfairly closed in order to favor Regeneron. She and TTAM then made an offer that was “substantially higher” than Regeneron’s, Hopkins said. The increase prompted 23andMe to propose a new, final bidding round with limits that Regeneron accepted, but which Wojcicki initially opposed. Once those limits were changed, all sides agreed that the second auction would take place later this month.
A wave of customers and government officials have demanded that 23andMe protect the genetic data it built up over the years by collecting saliva samples from customers. Both bidders have pledged to comply with 23andMe’s privacy policy, which allows customers to have their personal information deleted upon request.
23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March after failing to generate sustainable profits by providing medical and ancestry-related genetic testing to more than 15 million customers. About 550,000 people had subscribed to the company’s two primary services, which hasn’t been enough to keep the company afloat. One of those services, Lemonaid Health, was not part of the sale and will be wound down, 23andMe said in a statement.
In the months leading up its bankruptcy, 23andMe tried to attract a buyer while struggling to end a class-action lawsuit related to a 2023 data breach that gave hackers access to customer information. The company will try to resolve those claims as part of the bankruptcy.
The case is 23andMe Holding Co., number 25-40976, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.