Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

mediacenter.23andme.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 181 posts

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#41

Post by _Understated_ »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #25

In a letter to customers, CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said, "We're about to cash out of this bitch, and go kick it on a South Pacific island. Just fair warning that the database is going to have new owners soon, who will be keen to sell access to your most-intimate biological details to anyone with an idea on how to make money on it, and a checkbook."

Did she honestly say this? Do you have a link?

If this is true then, wow... just wow!

Edit: given that Zuck took the piss out of his customers many years ago [0] as a teenager and is now a billionaire then I guess anything's possible.

[0] - https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a19490586/mark-zucker...

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#42

Post by anthuswilliams »

engineer_22 wrote: post #10

Why would a company go through a SPAC instead of an IPO? Does the SPAC merger constitute a hedge against uncertainty in an IPO? What I mean is, 23andMe gets cash NOW and the SPAC gets the company at a discount but accepts the risk the IPO might not meet its goals? Could someone please explain the strategy?

The major benefit of going public via an SPAC is avoiding the onerous disclosure requirements associated with an IPO. In particular, the SEC frowns upon projections of imminent, wild growth, which is a big part of the valuation of many companies seeking to go public these days.

With an SPAC, a company can go public while still hyping the stock on YouTube or whatever, and without suffering a lockup period during which its executives are not allowed to sell into the mania. The SPAC phenomenon why have suddenly seen so many overhyped companies (NKLA, anyone?) in the public markets lately.

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#43

Post by anthuswilliams »

lordnacho wrote: post #36
thedudeabides5 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's pretty much the idea. Back in markets, we would of called it 'regulatory arbitrage.'

Why doesn't every IPO happen this way? Once you want to go public, you make a SPAC, get that approved, then have it buy your business?

The sponsors of the SPAC set aside for themselves a big chunk of the shares of the newly combined entity. So in general, the company gets a worse price than it would if it had gone public via an IPO.

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#44

Post by breck »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #25

In a letter to customers, CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki said, "We're about to cash out of this bitch, and go kick it on a South Pacific island. Just fair warning that the database is going to have new owners soon, who will be keen to sell access to your most-intimate biological details to anyone with an idea on how to make money on it, and a checkbook."

Funny, I have her 2006 letter and there seems to be some inconsistencies:

"As you all know, I'm rich enough from Google that I could just go kick it on a South Pacific Island. Instead though, I'm going to spend the next 15 years of my life grinding, taking flak of the press and internet trolls, so that I can set the record for helping the most people in the world learn there ancestry and pioneer mass genetic testing via the mail, mass SNPs genotyping at a level never seen before by orders of magnitude, and pave the way for a future where everyone on the planet has access to their genetic information for better health"

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#46

Post by runako »

breck wrote: post #45
executive wrote: post #37

VGAC is currently trading down ~10% > https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VGAC/

Thanks for the tip! Just bought some. Does this mean I own some 23andme now? I'm a bit ignorant of how SPACs work.

You shouldn't take investment advice from strangers on the Internet, but you also should know what you're buying before you buy it.

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#49

Post by lotsofpulp »

lordnacho wrote: post #26
detaro wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to speed and guaranteed price a SPAC merger also has less reporting requirements, because the SPAC already did go trough the IPO paperwork when it was created. And didn't have to explain weird things about the business to investors because it had no history or things to be going on. It then can relatively easily buy 23andMe, and 23andMe doesn't have to explain its business risks etc to the public as much…

Am I the only one who thinks that's a massive hole in the rules? You IPO an empty shell, which passes easily because it does nothing, and then any old shop with a messy business can then be bought by it?

If you’re investing in an SPAC, you should know this already. Everything is transparent, so I don’t see what the loophole is, or who or how anyone is getting bamboozled?

Company wants to go public with higher guarantee of price, they go with SPAC. Investor wants higher return, they invest in SPAC, but there is no higher return without higher risk.

Re: 23andMe to merge with VG Acquisition Corp. to become publicly-traded company

#50

Post by breck »

runako wrote: post #46
breck wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the tip! Just bought some. Does this mean I own some 23andme now? I'm a bit ignorant of how SPACs work.

You shouldn't take investment advice from strangers on the Internet, but you also should know what you're buying before you buy it.

Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more.
Post reply on HN