TNB Tech Minute: 23andMe Goes From Buzzy Startup to Bankrupt Business
WSJ Tech News Briefing
Deep Dive
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Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, March 24th. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. Shares of the once high-flying biotech firm 23andMe plunged nearly 60 percent today, closing below 75 cents a share after the company filed for bankruptcy protection and its CEO resigned. The company rose to fame for its easy and affordable DNA kits that many consumers said led them to finding siblings or parents they never knew.
The central problem was customers only needed to buy a DNA kit once. To keep revenue coming in, 23andMe attempted to sell subscriptions, license data to pharmaceutical companies, even develop its own drugs. But those strategies struggled to gain momentum. Meanwhile, shares of French video game maker Ubisoft jumped 7.8 percent in Paris today. That's after its latest release, Assassin's Creed Shadows, racked up more than 2 million players just a few days after its launch.
The game was due to be released last November, but was delayed twice to give developers more time to fine-tune and polish. Despite the early success of the launch, Ubisoft shares are down 30 percent over the last 12 months. The company has been under pressure by delayed releases and investor pressure to take the company private. Its CEO said Ubisoft has hired advisors to explore strategic options.
Finally, BYD has a reason to celebrate today. It said it beat rival Tesla to topping $100 billion in revenue last year. Though the Chinese automaker's profit still lags behind its U.S. rival, it's quickly catching up. The company is in a battle with Tesla to offer advanced driver assistance features to customers in China.
Regulatory difficulties have delayed Tesla from rolling out features BYD said in February it would make available to all of its models, including self-parking and cruising on city roads with little human intervention. BYD's CEO said today he wants to expand the company's global reach, but a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles will make that a difficult goal in the U.S.
For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Tuesday's Tech News Briefing podcast.