PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Ancestry.com
Includes Ancestry, AncestryDNA, Ancestry DNA
digital services & genealogy · Lehi, UT
- PE Firm
- Blackstone →
- Year Acquired
- 2020
Blackstone paid $4.7 billion for your family tree. Then started charging you extra to look at it.
What They Did
- Blackstone acquired Ancestry from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum Equity, and Permira in December 2020 for $4.7 billion
- Blackstone took roughly 75% of Ancestry while GIC kept a significant minority stake, gaining control of more than 3 million paying subscribers
- Rolled out 'AncestryDNA Plus' — a new paid tier that paywalls features like ThruLines and Shared Matches that were previously included free with every DNA kit purchase
- Added a $10-a-month 'Pro Tools' upsell for basic tree features, a new recurring charge stacked on top of the regular subscription
Since the Acquisition
- Features that came free with your AncestryDNA kit — ThruLines, Shared Matches, ethnicity details — now require a separate AncestryDNA Plus subscription, turning a one-time purchase into a recurring bill
- AncestryDNA kit and subscription prices jumped between 34% and 72% in early 2024, while rival MyHeritage raised its kit just 8% the same month
- Your DNA data sits in Blackstone's portfolio — a PE firm with no particular expertise in genomic privacy now controls one of the world's largest consumer genetic databases
- Customers report being enrolled in auto-renewing memberships without a clear signup, then billed before they realized they'd subscribed
Sources
- Ancestry's ThruLines and Shared Matches Now Require a Subscription — DNA Explained(2024-02-05)
- Blackstone Completes Acquisition of Ancestry for $4.7 Billion — Blackstone(2020-12-04)
- Blackstone's $4.7B Acquisition of Ancestry Raises Privacy Questions — MedCity News(2020-08-06)
- Ancestry piles on more fees, including new "AncestryDNA Plus" for formerly free features — EasyGenie(2024-01)
- Ancestry.com Enrolled Users in Auto-Renewing Memberships Without Making Proper Disclosures, Lawsuit Alleges — ClassAction.org(2020-07)