Microarray pioneer Affymetrix postponed a $330 million acquisition of eBioscience after an investment firm alleged fraud in the merger terms. The struggling Santa Clara, California–based Affymetrix's attempts to carve out a new strategy were put on pause after San Diego investment firm Tang Capital filed the complaint. Tang claims the maker of genomic analysis tools misrepresented the financing of the acquisition. Affymetrix denied any wrongdoing, but postponed its buyout to the end of January. The proposed purchase of eBiosciences, a firm dealing in flow cytometry and diagnostic reagents for immunology and cancer applications—well outside Affymetrix's core business—creates new commercial opportunities for Affymetrix. Although the company didn't respond to Nature Biotechnology's requests for comment, Doug Schenkel, a senior research analyst in the Cowen Group in New York, said the company had to do something to challenge its steady decline in revenue. Whereas gene expression arrays are still profitable, he said, there is fierce competition, and laboratories are increasingly going over to RNA sequencing, which Affymetrix does not supply. Affy's DNA genotyping products have been outperformed by Illumina's, of San Diego, and its small portfolio of existing oncology products, though promising, is still a “wild card.” The eBiociences price tag is “a little rich,” says Schenkel, “but it's an asset that can offset the headwind in its core business.”