Earlier this month we dissected the ongoing battle between investor activist Carl Icahn and the second-biggest holding in our Nanalyze Disruptive Tech Portfolio – Illumina (ILMN). The latest round just came to an end on May 25 when shareholders approved one of Icahn’s three hand-picked nominees for the gene-sequencing company’s board of directors, ousting the chairman in the process. How this will help right the ship after a series of disastrous decisions by Illumina management, which has caused the company to shed some $50 billion in value since August 2021 when it announced plans to acquire the liquid biopsy company GRAIL, remains to be seen. The best-case scenario is that Illumina drops its pursuit of ill-advised acquisitions and focuses on maintaining its market leadership in gene-sequencing technology. Because Icahn isn’t the only barbarian banging at Illumina’s gates.
Taking the Lead on Long-Read Sequencing