The DNA testing company that was once worth $6 billion went bankrupt and sold for pennies on the dollar, wiping out investors and putting millions of people's genetic data at risk.

• 23andMe built a one-time purchase product: people bought the DNA kit once and had no reason to buy it again, so revenue kept shrinking even as customers grew.
• A major data breach exposed millions of users' genetic and family information, destroying trust in the company right as it needed new customers.
• Heavy losses piled up for years, cash ran out, and the company filed for bankruptcy, with its remains sold to a nonprofit for a tiny fraction of its peak value.
• Rival Ancestry took a different path with recurring subscriptions and is now worth around $10 billion, showing the business model—not the DNA science—was 23andMe's fatal flaw.
• Lawsuits and settlements over the breach followed in the US and UK, adding more financial damage on top of the bankruptcy.

Outlook: The 23andMe brand and genetic database continue under new nonprofit ownership, but without the scale or influence it once had, and customers are being allowed to delete their data and biological samples.