Amazon has nixed plans to purchase Roomba maker iRobot after the businesses mutually decided the pending acquisition has “no path to regulatory approval within the European Union.”
In a associated announcement Monday, iRobot revealed that it will lay off about 350 workers, or 31% of its total workforce, as a part of a restructuring effort. Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO of iRobot, with chief authorized officer Glen Weinstein stepping in as his interim alternative.
The shock choice got here after stories surfaced earlier this month that the European Fee – the European Union’s antitrust watchdog – was planning to block the deal. Amazon had agreed to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion in August 2022.
“We’re upset that Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot couldn’t proceed,” Amazon basic counsel David Zapolsky stated in an announcement.
“This final result will deny customers sooner innovation and extra aggressive costs, which we’re assured would have made their lives simpler and extra pleasing,” Zapolsky added.
Shares of iRobot plunged greater than 17% in premarket buying and selling after the announcement. Amazon shares had been flat.
Amazon pays iRobot a $94 million termination charge. As a part of its company-wide shakeup, iRobot stated it will be “pausing all work associated to non-floorcare improvements, together with air purification, robotic garden mowing and training.”
“The termination of the settlement with Amazon is disappointing, however iRobot now turns towards the long run with a spotlight and dedication to proceed constructing considerate robots and clever residence improvements that make life higher, and that our prospects around the globe love,” iRobot’s Angle stated in an announcement.
The European Fee initially raised issues final fall that the Amazon-iRobot deal may damage competitors and stifle progress by different robotic vacuum makers.
Regulators pointed to the likelihood that Amazon may restrict iRobot’s rivals from promoting their merchandise on its on-line market.
