Illumina to Buy Bezos-Backed Firm Grail in $8 Billion Deal (1)

Genetic sequencing giant Illumina Inc. agreed to acquire Grail Inc. in a deal valuing the cancer-detection startup at $8 billion.

Grail shareholders will receive $3.5 billion in cash and $4.5 billion in Illumina common stock, the companies said in a statement Monday. Both companies’ boards of directors have approved the transaction.

Illumina, a giant in the DNA sequencing space, serves as the backbone for consumer genetics tests and is becoming an integral part of pharmaceutical research efforts. Grail, originally founded by Illumina and later spun out as a standalone company, is developing a blood test that aims to detect multiple ...