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

Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

investors.23andme.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 372 posts

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#291

Post by vineyardmike »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #233
vineyardmike wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> EDIT: But that brings up a different question: If you have majority voting power, why try to take the company private (as it has been suggested by others here)? 1. Less legal oversight and paperwork. 2. I don’t know the terms of the buyout, but if this means the CEO, family, friends, etc (“insiders”) become the new shareholders, then any future upside will be distributed to insiders not the open market.

You can have company control without having even a majority. This is similar to what zuckerberg is doing with Meta. Supervoting Class A shares vs common shares, etc. The arrangement is completely up to the governing docs of the entity.

The CEO does currently control the company without a majority.

Having less legal oversight generally refers to paperwork that needs to be done for the SEC.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#292

Post by Spivak »

23B1 wrote: post #274
Spivak wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, how could I forget. My DNA is also used for medical research so I'm helping develop novel treatments to all manners of genetic diseases, and helping my future relatives uncover health risks.

blind optimism

Negativity bias.

Years ago I would have agreed with you but I have my anxiety under control now.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#293

Post by rocho »

bruceb wrote: post #77
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…

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…

But a genetic analysis to find your "roots" is also something you do once. Does Ancestry have subscriptions for that?

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#294

Post by shelled »

flanked-evergl wrote: post #205
CSDude wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did you have access to customer data

Just for some perspective from outside the US: I work at a bank in a country subject to GDPR. I have access to customer data, as do most people on my team.

I worked at a US startup from my world country and that company dealt exclusively with PII (i.e. IDs, face etc) of people, including from the armed forces, of NA and some European countries.

I had access to any data I wanted to see, download on my work laptop (we all worked remotely). I didn't have to ask anyone, I didn't have to justify it, and AFAIK it was not audited. Logged? I don't know, maybe it was. I had sent mail once regarding to a director and SVP and never received even an ack. Oh by the way, everybody had access, not just me. For that no other access type was required either. Company email was sufficient. And IIRC even the stage env. had product data and stage was truly fair game.

No, I did not misuse and used it handful of times for debugging purposes. I doubt anybody did.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#295

Post by dekhn »

Supernaut wrote: post #199
dekhn wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anne's plan from the very beginning was to capitalize on the value of the human genome in drug development and medical testing. Frankly everything you need to know about the idea behind the company before its various pitfalls and pivots is here (2007): https://web.archive.org/web/20140312001152/http://www.wired.... (sorry, it takes a while to load but wired has killed most of their long-term links) IMHO she and Avey…

> it helped a number of children conceived via IVF (he had provided a sample for fertility testing many years before) identify and contact him Wait, so a sample he submitted for fertility testing was used to impregnate a number of women? Without his knowledge?

That's a good question- I think he signed a consent form that would have allowed additional research on his donations. TBH my dad was suprised but pleased by the outcome.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#296

Post by [deleted] »

quesera wrote: post #95
mulderc wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a pretty important aspect of Latter Day Saint theology. They still do it but officially you can only baptize your own family members with the permission of surviving family members. These guidelines are not always followed. Additionally they have said they removed people from their rosters that were improperly baptized but the members I have talked with are skeptical and found it a bit laughable that the church…

On the topic of laughability, I would propose that "invoking a dead stranger's name in a self-significant ritual" is absurd to do, and also absurd to be offended by. I hereby grant permission for my name to be invoked in all rituals, sacred and profane, by all current and future living persons. And I'll laugh at you in advance.

[deleted]

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#297

Post by stavros »

psychlops wrote: post #278
stavros wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just create an account with a username and password and get the results there, like every other company does.

How would that avoid PII? One assumes there would need to be an email address to recover that account, and that would likely link to every single detail about the owner.

Throwaway email address?

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#298

Post by busterarm »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #196
busterarm wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a sale, yes, but to take it private no. After taking the company private they could then manage the company properly and make all of the upside, completely screwing over the shareholders who they bought out. Honestly that's borderline fraud.

That would completely be fraud, but seems pretty far fetched. They have been (miss)managing the company about the same for 18 years, so it would have to be one of the most epic cons of all time. On the other hand, partial owners and management take companies private all the time. It is an extremely common occurrence. It and PE buyout are probably the two most common ways.

Based on my parent poster's question we're already operating from the assumption that happening and I'm just explaining why that's bad, not how likely it is.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#299

Post by punchmesan »

rocho wrote: post #293
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…

But a genetic analysis to find your "roots" is also something you do once. Does Ancestry have subscriptions for that?

Ancestry does more than genetic analysis. Their claim to fame is their tools to search through old public records to help one build their genealogy/family tree.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#300

Post by zombiwoof »

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…

Luck and being in the right place at the right time can’t make a CEO. Anne is a terrible CEO
Post reply on HN