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23andMe (ME) files for bankruptcy, CEO and co-founder Wojcicki resigns. (00:21) James Hardie Industries (JHX) to acquire AZEK for $8.75B in cash, stock. (01:56) Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI rejects Meta’s (META) $800 million offer – report. (02:24)
This is an abridged transcript.
23andMe (NASDAQ:ME) has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company was once worth $6B after its SPAC merger in 2021. It has a current market valuation of just under $50M.
Its CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki also resigned.
23andMe promised to revolutionize the healthcare industry with its affordable DNA tests, which detailed genetic lineage and was set to develop drugs that were tailored from the company’s research.
The biggest issue facing the company is that it has never reported a net profit. No successful follow-up products or subscriptions were developed with its pharma partner GSK (GSK), and the therapeutics development team was slashed in half by mid-2023 as interest rates rose and funding dried up.
A massive data breach later that year also exposed the profile information of 6.9M users, nearly half of 23andMe’s (ME) reported customers. Last November the company cut its workforce by 40% and stopped the development of all its therapies.
While Wojcicki has explored strategic alternatives, including attempts to take the company private, her bids were rejected by 23andMe’s (ME) board. She’s now out as CEO, but hopes the move will put her in the “best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder.”
In the meantime, 23andMe (ME) has secured up to $35M in debtor-in-possession financing to support ongoing operations, with CFO Joe Selsavage serving as interim CEO.
James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) has agreed to acquire outdoor living products maker AZEK (NYSE:AZEK).
The cash and stock deal is valued at $8.75M.
In a joint statement, the companies said AZEK shareholders would receive $26.45 in cash and 1.034 ordinary shares of James Hardie for each AZEK common share they own.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.
Korean chip startup FuriosaAI has rejected an $800 million takeover offer from Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META).
Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, that Meta had been in discussions about acquiring Seoul-based FuriosaAI since the start of this year.
FuriosaAI, led by June Paik, who formerly worked at Samsung Electronics Co. and Advanced Micro Devices, develops semiconductors for AI inferencing, or services.
The report said the eight-year-old company plans to raise capital before eventually pursuing an initial public offering.
Its latest chip, RNGD (pronounced “Renegade”), is built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s (TSM) 5-nanometer process and uses HBM3 memory chips supplied by SK Hynix. RNGD is reportedly designed to challenge products from industry leader Nvidia (NVDA) as well as fellow startups Groq, SambaNova Systems and Cerebras Systems Inc.
What’s Trending on Seeking Alpha:
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Luxury cars face biggest challenges from Trump’s tariffs, WSJ reports
Catalyst watch:
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DoorDash (DASH), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Expand Energy (EXE), and TKO Group (TKO) officially join the S&P 500 Index to replace BorgWarner (BWA), Teleflex (TFX), Celanese (CE), and FMC (FMC).
Now let’s take a look at the markets ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is flat at $68/barrel. Bitcoin is up 3.5% at $87,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.2% and the DAX is up 0.8%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) +5% – Shares climbed after the company signed a term sheet for the potential acquisition of select Rhodium Encore assets at its Rockdale facility through its affiliate, Whinstone US.
On today’s economic calendar:
Editor’s Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
