'Abbott' Finalizes $21 Billion Acquisition Deal for Cancer Diagnostics… Executives Liquidate All Shares

U.S. molecular diagnostics firm Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAS) announced on March 23 that, following the completion of Abbott Laboratories’ cash tender offer at $105 per share—approximately ₩140,000—three executives, including board members, have cashed out their entire holdings. Each sold tens of thousands of shares, including restricted stock subject to vesting conditions, and, with Exact Sciences now a wholly owned subsidiary of Abbott, their reported share count has been adjusted to zero. Notably, director Kimberly J. Popovits sold about 6,700 shares, receiving roughly $706,125 (approximately ₩950 million) in cash.

This closing marks the final step of Abbott’s acquisition agreement for Exact Sciences, first announced in November 2025, under which shareholders exit at $105 per share. Abbott has stated that the roughly $21 billion transaction (about ₩28 trillion) will propel its full-scale entry into the early cancer screening and precision oncology diagnostics market.

Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Exact Sciences has grown on the strength of cancer early-detection and precision-diagnostic products such as Cologuard, an at-home stool DNA test for colorectal cancer screening, and Oncotype DX, a breast-cancer and tumor-profiling assay. With this acquisition, Exact Sciences will cease to be a public company and will serve as Abbott’s cancer screening and precision oncology diagnostics platform within its diagnostics division.