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Robert Givens

bloom.bg

Big news today - Ancestry was sold today to the Blackstone Group for $4.7 BILLION - my only concern is that nothing changes with our partnership agreements with them.

https://bloom.bg/3gvGUxR.

Susan Cartmill Malone

I would imagine all of that was discussed as part of the acquisition. It truly is in the Lord's hands, so we can be patient, faithful and keep moving forward for as long as we are able to.

Headstone Hunter

Robert,

 

It is interesting to see this acquisition happen. If you go back a few years into Ancestry's annual reports, they were concerned with competition from free sites like FamilySearch. Then they partnered with the church to provide accounts for members - which certainly came at a negotiated price. Another concern of theirs was "topping out" in the field, i.e., market demographic saturation. However, the acquisition has me wondering what the Blackstone Group sees as the opportunity to grow and expand the business even further. Exciting times!

User15732414521409299734

I have had people ask me about how safe their DNA is with a private equity group owning it? There is even instructions on how to remove your DNA from their site. Any thoughts on this?

Puzzlefixer

I'm not sure how safe DNA is when you share it with anyone. It does seem to open some family lines that otherwise do not now have other sources so is it worth the risk of sharing?

 

What I have read says that Blackstone plans to key in on a younger group for membership.

 

I would think that it might be a 50-50 deal as far as church members are concerned. There will be changes that we like better and there will be changes that we will not like at all. The best thing that I can think of is that they are still going to be a resource.

Robert Givens

Here is the take on Blackstone's attitude going into the purchase.

My take: Blackstone put a lot of money into this so I am sure at least in the short run they are not going to rock the DNA boat and drive the DNA patrons away. The DNA program is a great cash cow for Ancestry as a good portion of the testers ultimately sign up for a subscription. If that program dries up there goes a lot of the profits too.

At least we will never have to worry about FamilySearch being bought out. LOL

https://blog.eogn.com/2020/08/07/follow-up-information-concerning-dna-information-and-ancestry-coms-sale-to-blackstone-in-a-4-7-billion-deal/