Ancestry to lay off 6% of workforce because of a slowdown in the consumer DNA-testing market

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In a blog post, Ancestry CEO Margo Georgiadis wrote 'we have seen a slowdown in consumer demand across the entire DNA category.' For that reason, it made the decision to cut about 100 jobs from its California and Utah offices.

Ancestry, following 23andMe, made the decision to layoff a chunk of its employees. It confirmed to CNBC that the cuts impacted 6 percent of its workforce.Sales of consumer DNA tests are down, and privacy is likely a major factor.Ancestry, the largest seller of at-home DNA tests for health and genealogy reports, is laying off about 100 people, about or approximately 6% of its total workforce.

In the post, the company stressed that it is making a long-term commitment to the health care side of its business, called Ancestry Health. A company spokesperson noted that the layoffs did not affect that group. Later this year, it plans to roll out a next generation sequencing product to its customers to provide them with more detailed information about their potential health risks, the company previously announced.

. 23andME CEO Anne Wojcicki said at the time the company did not know exactly why fewer people were purchasing their tests, but cited a number of potential explanations, including privacy.Illumina Ancestry is a veteran of the relatively new consumer DNA testing space, and traded on the Nasdaq from 2009 through 2012, when it wasHere's a copy of Georgiadis' blog post:

 

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So when ancestry goes broke who will buy all the genetic data they have on people?

I'm not signing up if they are going to tell the police I'm a serial killer

Probably not a lot of repeat business.

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