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Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

investors.23andme.com

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Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#211

Post by axpvms »

bboygravity wrote: post #152
brookst wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To complete the data, the company is trading at $0.34/share, so while $0.40 is a bit lower than the typical 20% premium (~$0.41), I'm not sure it counts as "lowball". It's a typical premium over market cap. Is there any reason to think the company is worth $4.7B or whatever ($9.30/share)? If so the stock is a steal at its current price and we should all buy lots. But can the market be THAT wrong?

Yes. The market can be THAT wrong, not just wrong but also corrupt and broken (on purpose). Hint: regulatory crisis, Suzanne Trimbath, failure to deliver shares, naked shorting, Tesla shortsqueeze, VW shortsqueeze, UBS's and Swiss gov's 50 year secret, etc.

Hint: GME bagholder

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#212

Post by gerdesj »

appendix-rock wrote: post #203
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Acknowledging Ancestry.com are well ahead of the market here, but I never got their appeal of finding some long-lost second cousins... basically strangers, and saying, "hey, isn't it fascinating that we share some arbitrary level of common genetic makeup". If some randomer reached out via email to me doing this big reveal I'd be "thanks, but into the s…

That’s a very glib HN take. Interest in family trees predates Ancestry.com and will certainly outlast it. It’s not necessarily about contact. I’m not sure what’s controversial here.

I run a small web server for a dataset we call the "BIGFAM" - Geneweb with a proxy on the front. It has >120,000 individuals in it. In places it is not so much a tree as a thicket!

That data is hard fought and won by a relative who conducts meticulous research as a hobby. They've been at it for a good 20 odd years now.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#213

Post by derriz »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #171
bruceb wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closest competitor does a lot of heavy lifting in this situation. Ancestry is the overwhelming leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Look at https://www.ancestry.com/ and https://www.23andme.com/ 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. Their pitch is health. But that pitch is murky with no good hook to keep you hooked for a monthly subscription. So after they get the ini…

> leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Acknowledging Ancestry.com are well ahead of the market here, but I never got their appeal of finding some long-lost second cousins... basically strangers, and saying, "hey, isn't it fascinating that we share some arbitrary level of common genetic makeup". If some randomer reached out via email to me doing this big reveal I'd be "thanks, but into the s…

A first cousin of mine found a (adult) daughter he didn’t know he had through it. They are in the process of building a relationship. It was a significant/important discovery for them even without having a prior relationship.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#215

Post by jheriko »

hackernewds wrote: post #17
LarsDu88 wrote: post #2

Literally just one day after 23andMe presented positive phase 2 clinical results for two anti-cancer drugs: https://therapeutics.23andme.com/news-and-research/ The board of directors of 23andMe just resigned in protest. The CEO, Anne Wojcicki (who's sister Susan died of lung cancer last month, and was the former CEO of YouTube) had tried to low ball take the company private at only $0.40 a share -- a more than 96% dr…

why are these companies worth so much, if not for sneakily monetizing and selling their user's most personal data?

in some cases the value doesn't really exist. if someone owns 75% of a company from the founding, and they sell 25% for $100000 then its worth $400000 in a valuation whether the starting capital was $1000000 or $1

selling the smallest amount of share possible for the highest amount you can get can easily balloon the "paper" value of a company, but that money doesn't really exist anywhere.

it will change when things go public, but often the initial price is based on some vapourous guess like this...

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#216

Post by dbspin »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #137
typeofhuman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think data-breaches could carry the death penalty for companies. I just got a notification from some health services company that my and my toddlers data was accessed. Including medical history, diagnoses, payment details, SSN, birthday. Why was this not encrypted? Given the world today, this is negligent. The government should be able to disolve the company and give the money to the victims. If there was a willful…

> data-breaches could carry the death penalty for companies One, corporate death penalties are nonsense. They’re a distraction from fines. Two, what would America pay for its adversaries to enact such a policy. Automatic self destruct for the entire data sector.

I agree that a 'corporate death penalty' would be enormously open to abuse, sector rivals would be even more incentivised to industrial espionage for one thing...

But 'a distraction from fines'? Fines do nothing to help those affected by such breaches. Even class action lawsuits usually result in symbolic payouts to individual victims. Given the potential consequences of these breathes - especially in the health space, criminal prosecution for those executives responsible seem appropriate, commensurate and incentivising.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#217

Post by creshal »

tylergetsay wrote: post #181
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Acknowledging Ancestry.com are well ahead of the market here, but I never got their appeal of finding some long-lost second cousins... basically strangers, and saying, "hey, isn't it fascinating that we share some arbitrary level of common genetic makeup". If some randomer reached out via email to me doing this big reveal I'd be "thanks, but into the s…

I think a more common use case might be finding siblings if your adopted, or trying to reengage with your roots if you were say a member of an indian tribe or native hawaiian. I have a family member who is retired and has taken up geneology as a hobby, she has connected our family history really far back. Not my cup of tea personally but I can see the appeal, its like a treasure hunt. She has traveled to go to old li…

Another common use case is "I wonder where all my family went after $War"; some families are still trying to figure out where their parents' families ended up at after WW2, or if they survived at all.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#218

Post by kelnos »

noirbot wrote: post #173
genewitch wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Someone who has their data in 23andme was someplace where something horrible happened. Law enforcement has no leads, so they process the DNA, and find no matches. They subpoena 23andme (or just look at the leaked data, who knows), and that person is now a person of interest. If they don't know they should have a lawyer on their side with them when being questioned, they might talk themselves into prison. Now im…

I know it's not exactly the point, but the answer is you always have a lawyer if you're being questioned by the police, especially if you're not the one who called them. This is in no way specific to any DNA related situation. If any law enforcement shows up and has questions for you, you say nothing until you have a lawyer with you.

Lawyers are expensive. Most people can't afford one for even one encounter with the police, let alone multiple.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#219

Post by codedokode »

yellowapple wrote: post #88
bruceb wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closest competitor does a lot of heavy lifting in this situation. Ancestry is the overwhelming leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Look at https://www.ancestry.com/ and https://www.23andme.com/ 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. Their pitch is health. But that pitch is murky with no good hook to keep you hooked for a monthly subscription. So after they get the ini…

> 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. The routine emails I get about them allegedly finding new DNA relatives suggest otherwise. The DNA relatives feature is also still pretty prominent in their UI (at least on desktop browsers; haven't looked at the app yet). That said, it certainly doesn't offer much beyond "these are your relatives; send 'em some messages or something lol". Ancestry probab…

I wonder, do the "relatives" know and agree that their information is sent to other person?

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#220

Post by gadders »

breck wrote: post #52
LarsDu88 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cold e-mail CEOs and get a >70% hitrate? I gotta try this more often.

I do put try to make them a mix of feedback + entertainment. Example To: jeff@amazon.com subject: The Day the Music Died I was looking forward to playing my Yamaha Digital Piano that I ordered from Amazon today when I got home from work at "the country club". Instead I'm stuck tapping this UPS "Delivery Attempted" notice and the melodies just aren't coming through. ? In the last 6 months I ordered 37 packages from Am…

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