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Blackstone to acquire Ancestry.com for $4.7 billion
Reuters ^ | March 3, 2023 | Chibuike Oguh

Posted on 03/03/2023 10:21:13 AM PST by Golden Eagle

Blackstone Group Inc BX.N said on Wednesday it agreed to acquire genealogy provider Ancestry.com Inc from private equity rivals for $4.7 billion, including debt, placing a big bet on family-tree chasing as well as personalized medicine.

Ancestry.com is the world’s largest provider of DNA services, allowing customers to trace their genealogy and identify genetic health risks with tests sent to their home.

Blackstone is hoping that more consumers staying at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic will turn to Ancestry.com for its services.

“We believe Ancestry has significant runway for further growth as people of all ages and backgrounds become increasingly interested in learning more about their family histories and themselves,” David Kestnbaum, a Blackstone senior managing director, said in a statement.

The deal is Blackstone’s first acquisition out of Blackstone Capital Partners VIII, the largest-ever private equity fund that raised $26 billion from investors last year.

Ancestry.com has more than 3 million paying customers in about 30 countries, and earns more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Launched in 1996 as a family history website, it harnessed advances in DNA testing and mobile phone apps in the following two decades to expand its offerings.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: blackstone; ccp; china; genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; lds; mormons
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Who's got your DNA now?
1 posted on 03/03/2023 10:21:13 AM PST by Golden Eagle
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To: Golden Eagle

We used to learn about our ancestry/heritage by listening to our parents and grandparents telling family stories.


2 posted on 03/03/2023 10:23:02 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Golden Eagle

yeah, was bound to happen.


3 posted on 03/03/2023 10:23:17 AM PST by TribalPrincess2U (D.I.S.T.R.A.C.T.I.O.N.S.)
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To: Golden Eagle
Who's got your DNA now?

Anyone willing to pay for it.

4 posted on 03/03/2023 10:23:33 AM PST by Roccus (Veritas, non verba magistri)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator


6 posted on 03/03/2023 10:23:47 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Golden Eagle

Great….


7 posted on 03/03/2023 10:23:51 AM PST by dragonblustar (WEF = World Economic Fascists. )
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Golden Eagle

The government (Medicare) has it if you’ve used cologuard. Is Blackstone another name for “Starlink”? Time will tell.


9 posted on 03/03/2023 10:26:20 AM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing)Xvg)
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To: Golden Eagle

Who’s got your DNA now?

A scary question every DNA member with Ancestry.com should be asking themselves and Blackstone?


10 posted on 03/03/2023 10:26:34 AM PST by Grampa Dave (The Democrats Have Already Won the 2024 Election, Regardless of Whom, Either Party Runs!!!)
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To: Golden Eagle

11 posted on 03/03/2023 10:27:06 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Golden Eagle

“Who’s got your DNA now?“

Another step toward the end of days.


12 posted on 03/03/2023 10:27:33 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: Golden Eagle

Ancestry.com is basically an arm of the LDS Mormon church. In short that means the Mormons are going to get a slice of that $4.7 billion payday.


13 posted on 03/03/2023 10:29:49 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: Golden Eagle

Ancestry.com is the world’s largest provider of DNA services, allowing customers to trace their genealogy and identify genetic health risks with tests sent to their home.
...
who then sends the test to China for your results - the PLA welcomes your DNA into their worldwide DNA data base, in hopes that your DNA will provide the necessary linkage to create their Precision Medicine’s racial genetic weapon - to be used to eliminate all races except Han Chinese.

Thank you, thank you humble sir for your contribution! Many Kowtows!!!


14 posted on 03/03/2023 10:29:55 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Golden Eagle

Acquisitions happen and that’s capitalism. But I am struggling to think of something good that came out of an acquisition ... from a end user perspective. Hope they don’t screw up Ancestry.com but I would be shocked if anything good came out of this.


15 posted on 03/03/2023 10:30:02 AM PST by plain talk
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To: Zzyzzyxx
Nasty thing about this is even if you don’t personally do these tests, you are still matched if a small number of relatives do.

I had an aunt and 1st cousin take one of the tests about five years ago, and I wonder about this. There was a bit of a surprise in the results for them, which of course impacts me, but I am not sure rewriting a portion of my maternal grandmother's history will be worth it in the long run.

16 posted on 03/03/2023 10:31:43 AM PST by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
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To: Golden Eagle

The fact that Blackstone (a major corporate arm of the US deep state) has bought a massive data-base of human DNA should be VERY concerning


17 posted on 03/03/2023 10:37:05 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Golden Eagle
I never understood the logic behind voluntarily handing over all that information about yourself.

Frankly, our folks STILL attach a tremendous stigma to bearing children out of wedlock ... so there is no question where we are from. There is no need to search via an organization that has no business with our personal information. Just my humble opinion...

18 posted on 03/03/2023 10:39:57 AM PST by SMARTY (“Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face.” Thomas Sowell)
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To: Zzyzzyxx
Nasty thing about this is even if you don’t personally do these tests, you are still matched if a small number of relatives do. Can’t win here.

Interesting point which had not occurred to me.

19 posted on 03/03/2023 10:44:12 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s ( If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there..)
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To: Golden Eagle
Who's got your DNA now?

Thanks to one or more relatives, almost everyone is now in a DNA database. So if you are an axe murderer, they will catch you (not kidding).

20 posted on 03/03/2023 10:44:15 AM PST by rexthecat
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