23andMe Sale to Proceed as California Continues Appeal (Correct)

A federal district judge allowed 23andMe Holding Co.'s genetic material asset sale to proceed in the coming days, despite the state of California’s objections.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri allowed a brief administrative pause of the sale on July 7, shortly after a bankruptcy judge rejected California’s requested stay. But US District Judge Matthew T. Schelp held during a Thursday hearing that the state didn’t provide evidence that the bankruptcy judge abused his discretion by allowing the transaction.

Schelp extended the administrative pause on the sale until 11:59 p.m. on July 11 to allow California to pursue an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

The $305 million sale to the nonprofit TTAM Research Institute and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki was approved by Judge Brian C. Walsh of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in late June over the objections of several states that raised privacy concerns.

“Standing likely presents a key threshold hurdle because the people of California have failed to show that it is adversely affected,” Schelp said Thursday.

California also failed on the merits to show that the state’s Genetic Information Privacy Act would be violated by the sale, he said. California residents, like other states, can delete their genetic data in perpetuity, Schelp noted.

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and Carmody MacDonald PC represent 23andMe. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP represent TTAM.

The case is In re: 23andMe Holdings Co., E.D. Mo., No. 25-cv-00999, hearing 7/10/25.