TNB Tech Minute: 23andMe Goes From Buzzy Startup to Bankrupt Business

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Plus, French videogame maker Ubisoft’s delayed game launch pays off. And, BYD celebrates a victory over Tesla with $100 billion-plus revenue. Victoria Craig hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, March 24th. I'm Victoria Craig for the Wall Street Journal.
0:07.6	Shares of the once high-flying biotech firm 23 and me plunged nearly 60% today, closing below 75 cents a share,
0:15.9	after the company filed for bankruptcy protection and its CEO resigned. The company rose to fame for its easy
0:22.1	and affordable DNA kits that many consumers said led them to finding siblings or parents they never
0:28.2	knew. The central problem was customers only needed to buy a DNA kit once. To keep revenue
0:34.1	coming in, 23 and Me attempted to sell subscriptions, licensed data to pharmaceutical companies, even develop its own drugs.
0:41.5	But those strategies struggled to gain momentum.
0:44.6	Meanwhile, shares of French video game maker Ubisoft jumped 7.8% in Paris today.
0:50.3	That's after its latest release, Assassin's Creed Shadows racked up more than 2 million players just a few days after its launch.
0:57.9	The game was due to be released last November, but was delayed twice to give developers more time to fine-tune and polish.
1:04.9	Despite the early success of the launch, Ubisoft shares are down 30% over the last 12 months.
1:10.4	The company has been under pressure
1:11.7	by delayed releases and investor pressure to take the company private. Its CEO said Ubisoft
1:17.6	has hired advisors to explore strategic options. Finally, BYD has a reason to celebrate today.
1:24.1	It said it beat rival Tesla to topping $100 billion in revenue last year.
1:29.5	Though the Chinese automakers' profit still lags behind its U.S. rival, it's quickly catching up.
1:34.9	The company is in a battle with Tesla to offer advanced driver assistance features to customers in China.
1:41.4	Regulatory difficulties have delayed Tesla from rolling out features BYD said in February,
1:46.7	it would make available to all of its models, including self-parking and cruising on city roads with
1:52.5	little human intervention. BYD's CEO said today he wants to expand the company's global reach,
1:58.2	but a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles will make
2:02.5	that a difficult goal in the U.S. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.