Ancestry being sold off

[Paulc]

Blackstone Group Inc. acquired a majority stake in Ancestry.com Inc., the business known for family history research and DNA testing.

The deal is valued at $4.7 billion, Blackstone said in a statement Wednesday. It’s the first acquisition by Blackstone’s largest ever private equity fund. Silver Lake and Singaporean sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte have been the majority owners since 2016. After the deal closes, Blackstone will own about 75% and GIC will still hold about 25% of Ancestry.com, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

[Paulc]

https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2020/08/05/blackstone-reaches-4-7-billion-deal-to-buy-ancestry-com/

[Olde Crone Holden]

And this is why I have resisted dna testing with Ancestry as I always knew this would happen eventually.

OC

[Caroline]

And this is why I have resisted dna testing with Ancestry as I always knew this would happen eventually.

OC

Why would this change of ownership necessarily make any difference?

[Caroline]

A longer article about it:

https://www.blackstone.com/press-rel...r-4-7-billion/

If they are able to sort out the problems by their investment, hopefully it will be better - maybe their programmers can even sort out the dreadful search and let us sort our results!! And surely far better being sold off rather than just going out of business.

[Paulc]

My suspicions are they might want to break into medical based DNA which would be a massive market for them

[GallowayLass]

I’ve just spotted this in a blog. Who are the Blackstone Group?
If the medical testing element turns out to be true, they could probably go down the same rocky road as GEDmatch has done by selling out to Verogen whose main interest was medical. And that had been a disaster for GEDmatch. Thousands of kits being withdrawn and tools now to be paid fir that used to be in the free level. I notice that as well as the data breach, there are loads of users complaining that the tools are not working properly on a regular basis.

[Olde Crone Holden]

The further away that you get from the original owners, the more likely it is that things will change and the focus will change from family history to selling off part or all of a very valuable data base to the highest bidder.

OC

[Caroline]

They probably could do a lot of things, it seems pointless to speculate yet. The rumour mill is in full flow and as usual people hold diametrically opposed views. Change happens, sometimes for the good so who knows, maybe this is a positive change for us.

[cbcarolyn]

I guess the worst thing (apart from DNA) is generally carving up so you don't get so much for your money, like fold 3 and newspapers.com introduced as additions.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I cannot think that a private equity fund will have genealogy as its primary interest. Anyone else remember what happened when itv bought genes reunited? Of course, that won't happen here because a dna database is and always will be a very valuable asset, but it does illustrate what happens when an owner has no interest in the product, merely the profit. Also, my real concern is that the database could be put to far more sinister purpose. I hope I am wrong.

OC

[GallowayLass]

Here’s an article on the chairman and CEO of Blackstone. There are various other articles out there on the net which leaves one in no doubt that what Mr S wants, Mr S gets.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Schwarzman

[Tilly Mint]

I cannot think that a private equity fund will have genealogy as its primary interest. Anyone else remember what happened when itv bought genes reunited? Of course, that won't happen here because a dna database is and always will be a very valuable asset, but it does illustrate what happens when an owner has no interest in the product, merely the profit. Also, my real concern is that the database could be put to far more sinister purpose. I hope I am wrong.

OC

You've echoed my concerns here too, OC.

Interesting reading, GL.

[GallowayLass]

ancestry blog post

https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2020/08/05/blackstone-to-acquire-ancestry/

[GallowayLass]

A longer article about it:

https://www.blackstone.com/press-rel...r-4-7-billion/

If they are able to sort out the problems by their investment, hopefully it will be better - maybe their programmers can even sort out the dreadful search and let us sort our results!! And surely far better being sold off rather than just going out of business.

It’s the last sentence in the second paragraph of that article that bothers me. As far as I am aware, ancestry currently does not inform its consumers of “key health statistics”. Makes me think this is exactly what they wanted the investment for, to go down the medical DNA testing route.

[kylejustin]

"Looking ahead, in collaboration with Blackstone, we will continue to leverage our unique content and technology platform to expand our global Family History business while bringing to life our long-term vision of personalized, preventive health."

"We are thrilled to partner with Blackstone and believe that together we can continue to inspire millions more people to discover their family story and gain actionable insights about their health and wellness."

think you're right on the money oc.

[GallowayLass]

Would rather the investment went into bulking up their server space and providing things like a chromosome browser.

[jenoco]

I cannot think that a private equity fund will have genealogy as its primary interest. Anyone else remember what happened when itv bought genes reunited? Of course, that won't happen here because a dna database is and always will be a very valuable asset, but it does illustrate what happens when an owner has no interest in the product, merely the profit. Also, my real concern is that the database could be put to far more sinister purpose. I hope I am wrong.

OC

Agree. I believe Blackstone is one of the biggest private equity companies in the world. Unfortunately (for me at least) their CEO is an ardent Trump supporter :(

[bcbrit]

Oh, I do hope that they keep their word on my subscription !

Ten years ago they offered me an one time deal if I rejoined them. The deal was that I would get world ancestry at a very reduced rate for as long as I was with them.

This will be my tenth year at that very reduced rate. Every time they tick me off with changes to the site, I think I can't leave. My rate is cheaper than the most basic plan.

It will be very interesting to see what new changes they have in mind.

bcbrit

[GallowayLass]

Wow. That is some deal. No wonder you don’t want it to stop.