The genetic testing firm 23andMe filed for chapter safety on Sunday after months of uncertainty over its enterprise mannequin and mounting issues concerning the safety of the troves of buyer knowledge it holds.

In a statement, 23andMe mentioned it had filed for Chapter 11 chapter to “facilitate a sale course of to maximise the worth of its enterprise” and make additional value reductions. Anne Wojcicki, chief govt of 23andMe, introduced that she had resigned with a purpose to bid on the corporate.

23andMe intends to proceed working through the sale course of, with no adjustments to the way in which it shops, manages or protects buyer knowledge, the assertion mentioned.

Ms. Wojcicki, the corporate’s co-founder, who had owned 49 p.c of its voting inventory, said on Sunday that she was disenchanted that the corporate had rejected her earlier bid to take it personal.

“I’ve resigned as C.E.O. of the corporate so I will be in the very best place to pursue the corporate as an unbiased bidder,” she mentioned in an announcement on social media, thanking what she mentioned had been the corporate’s 15 million prospects. These prospects present the corporate with a saliva pattern for evaluation, normally to be taught particulars about their ancestry, household traits and potential well being dangers.

After 23andMe went public in 2021, its market worth briefly topped $6 billion. But it surely traded at lower than $50 million final week, earlier than the chapter submitting. Within the first 9 months of its present fiscal 12 months, the corporate reported a 7 p.c decline in income and losses of $174 million.

A part of the drop in earnings was attributed to fewer check kits being ordered. That got here after a knowledge breach in 2023, wherein hackers appeared to focus on Jewish and Chinese language prospects, and gained entry to private data from practically seven million profiles.

A category-action lawsuit subsequently accused the corporate of failing to inform these prospects that that they had been focused. The corporate said in a statement on the time that it was taking steps to additional shield buyer knowledge.

In September, seven unbiased administrators of the corporate’s board resigned, citing frustration with its route.