23andMe Sale Takes a New Turn

The sale of genetic testing company 23andMe—which includes genetic data from around 16 million customers—took a new turn at a hearing on Wednesday. A deal for Regeneron to buy the company for $256 million was announced last month, but bidding has now been reopened. Co-founder and former CEO Anne Wojcicki, who offered $40 million for the company before it filed for bankruptcy in March, is now offering more money for it than Regeneron through her nonprofit TTAM Research Institute, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a filing last week arguing that the auction process ended prematurely, Wojcicki said she also had support from a Fortune 500 company, reports Reuters.

At the hearing in federal court in St. Louis on setting up a new round of bidding, a lawyer for 23andMe "inadvertently revealed" that TTAM had offered $305 million after the auction closed, the Journal reports. Under new rules negotiated on Wednesday, Regeneron can counter TTAM's offer with an offer of at least $315 million for 23andMe, and each company will have one more chance to submit a bid, with Regeneron filing last and the losing bidder receiving a $10 million "break-up fee," Bloomberg reports. The sale has raised concerns about how the DNA data might be used, but Regeneron has pledged to keep existing privacy policies in place. TTAM's attorney said Wednesday that it would do likewise, reports the Journal.