Illumina CEO Jay Flatley Speaks on Genomics and Worries
Illumina's CEO, Jay Flatley spoke to The San Diego Union-Tribune about the power of genomics and his worries for Illumina. He mentions how genomics saves the healthcare system money, since patients can be diagnosed without going through a variety of expensive tests. He also spoke about his worries for the future: as his company continues to expand, so does the need for increased efficiency of communication through the company.
Illumina CEO Jay Flatley had seen a lot in his days in business, but a meeting with the Swiss drug giant Roche stands out as one of the most memorable.

The DNA sequencing and genomics company was dealing with a collapse in stock price in late 2011. In that aftermath, Roche thought it had an easy target, Flatley said.

"I got a call from the CEO of Roche and he said, we'd like to have a meeting with you and your chairman (William Rastetter). We did that at Bill Rastetter's house down at the beach. It lasted about 40 minutes. And about three minutes in he said, we're going to acquire your company. And I said, really?"

At an event held at Biocom's new headquarters on Torrey Pines Mesa, Flatley talked about that meeting in December 2011, along with the aftermath of Roche's unsuccessful hostile takeover bid, and other challenges and opportunities in running Illumina. Flatley was interviewed by Biocom president and CEO Joe Panetta in the aptly named Illumina Theater auditorium.

The event was one of Biocom's Speaker Series, which features the CEO of a life science company valued at $1 billion or more. With a market cap of more than $30 billion, Illumina is the most highly valued life science company headquartered in San Diego County.

I'm presenting videos from that event, broken up into short segments labeled by themes. Enjoy!

We will own you

Resistance (to Roche) is futile

Illumina defends

Built to stand alone, not to be purchased

Too efficient for Illumina's own good?

Early stages of Illumina

Illumina's values

Brains beats brawn

Not a build-and-flip

Knowledge is strength

Genomics and health care

What worries you?

More information about Biocom's Speaker Series can be found at the link.