Both companies had originally announced the acquisition back in 2022, which would have brought iRobot into the family of Amazon companies as an exclusive product series with a purchase price of $1.4 billion. Amazon claims it would have helped enhance iRobot’s push for further innovation, lower prices, and offer a stronger competitive foothold against other companies and countries. However, European courts didn’t see it that way.
It has been rolling around the courts of the world ever since, adding to the ever-growing interest in the many acquisitions happening within the tech industry. Europe has been taking an even stronger interest due to the sheer amount of “big” mergers that have occurred, causing concerns when it comes to things like monopolies.
It appears that it has resulted in a bit of a stalemate as both companies have announced that the acquisition “has no path to regulatory approval in the European Union” and have agreed to terminate the deal. This means that Amazon is to pay iRobot the required termination fee based on previous agreements.
European antitrust regulators have felt that the merger would create an unfair market within Amazon when it comes to robotic vacuum competitors. Allowing the company to show a preference for iRobot when it came to searches, pricing, and advertising. It also appears the FTC’s interest in the US was closely aligned with these concerns as well as it was ready to side with the same decision.
Meanwhile, iRobot will be going through some restructuring. Including the cut of 31% of its workforce. The company will also be taking on a new CEO as Colin Angle (current CEO and founder) has agreed to step down.
