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

Post by Eric_WVGG » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 9:54 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #158

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst thing is that, you can’t even really opt out. My parents tried to gift me a kit for xmas one year, "hey we think this is fun, might be useful to know if you're prone to eyeball cancer or whatever." I explained all the privacy issues and politely declined. But of course they and my sister had already gone ahead and done it, so now my family’s genetic fingerprints are in their databases, nothing to be done ab…

That is in fact not how the golden state killer was nabbed. Uploads to GEDmatch are voluntary.

Post by sjg007 » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 10:23 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #159

sjg007 wrote: post #75

I work in this space and even I have a hard time seeing 23andMe being profitable.

I have a hard time seeing how they won't be. They have name recognition. It's like the kleenex of DNA testing. The SNP chips they use are cheap at scale. They don't need to spend money on innovation, they could continue just running SNP chips priced above cost indefinitely. Consumers don't understand the current technology, they aren't going to start one day clamoring for long read sequencing or anything that require…

Post by what_ever » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 12:48 AM UTC

lupire wrote: post #100

tachyonbeam wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of this, SPACs usually have private PIPE investors who get shares at the "IPO" price, typically 10 dollars, while people who buy the public SPAC shares typically have to pay twice that, which feels super scammy. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pipe.asp

Why? Earlier investors always get better prices before opening to the public, in exchange for helping the company go public.

Post by itsoktocry » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

dehrmann wrote: post #118

theptip wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Levine has the best ELI5 on this subject that I've seen: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-08/spac-m... Here's the high-level summary from that article, though there's a lot more detail that's worth digging into: > Here’s how a SPAC works: 1. You give me $10. 2. I put your $10 in a pool with a bunch of other people’s $10, held in a trust account at a bank. 3. I give you back one share in the poo…

I don't see anything especially wrong with them and what they do because they're really just a way around the IPO paperwork and restrictions. Usually, a lot of that feels like a formality, but it did surface some interesting things about Wework. That said, it's a bet on the team, and you have no idea what they're going to find. It's a little like investing in a less-diversified, late-stage venture fund.

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 1:29 AM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #168

lotsofpulp wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retail investors have no business investing in an SPAC. If you’re not doing your due diligence, you should stick to VOO. There’s plenty of options for people who don’t want to take risks.

> Retail investors have no business investing in an SPAC It's their entire purpose; to sell to the "retail" public like an ETF.