$1.4 Billion Amazon-iRobot Deal Canceled

Amazon is an American technology company known in our country with its smart robot vacuum cleaners in 2022. Will buy iRobot for 1.4 billion dollars had announced. However, the agreement could not be completed in the last year and a half.

Today, there was an important development regarding the acquisition. Amazon and iRobot signed the agreement has been canceled announced. Amazon to iRobot for cancellation A $94 million termination payment will have to do it.

iRobot will lay off 350 employees

In addition to canceling the agreement, iRobot also announced that it would undergo restructuring. For this purpose, the company employs its total personnel They will part ways with 350 people, corresponding to 31%k. He is also the CEO and President, one of the founders of the company. Colin Angle He also leaves his post. Glen Weinstein, who served as vice president, will take over as interim CEO.

As another part of the restructuring, iRobot will also pause some of its products. These include devices other than basic products such as floor cleaning machines. Let’s add that the company will close its small facilities that do not perform adequately and expects to announce a loss of between 265 and 285 million dollars. So things are not going well on the iRobot side.

Deal canceled due to competition concerns from regulators in the European Union

In their statements, the companies said:Since approval cannot be obtained from the European Union” and announced the cancellation of the agreement. Amazon and iRobot have been in trouble with regulators in the EU since the deal was announced.

The European Commission said last November that the agreement would “increase” the robot vacuum cleaner market.restriction of competitionHe explained that he believes he has potential. As it is known, iRobot’s competitors sell through Amazon. The EU, on the other hand, thought that the e-commerce giant could remove rival brands’ vacuum cleaners from its lists and reduce their visibility after purchasing iRobot. He was also concerned that consumers might be offered lower quality products at higher prices.

The EU gave Amazon until January 10 to convince itself. However, the information received shows that the technology giant has not said anything to the regulators until this date. does not offer showed. As a result, there was no approval from the EU and the agreement was cancelled. It should be noted that the agreement was approved by the United Kingdom in June. However, lack of approval from the EU prevents its completion.

This acquisition is just one of a number of deals that have been canceled due to regulators recently. We recently saw the merger between Adobe and Figma canceled due to similar pressures. Nvidia also abandoned the $40 billion Arm deal in 2022. The Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger, which was completed in October, was barely successful with compromises.