iRobot, which makes the Roomba, plans to lay off around 350 employees, or 31% of its staff, after mutually agreeing with Amazon to call off its planned acquisition. CEO and founder Colin Angle also plans to step down following the determination that there was “no path to regulatory approval for the deal.”
The deal was initially priced at $1.7 billion when it was announced in 2022, but that price later fell after multiple regulatory inquiries. The European Commission began an investigation in July on concerns that Amazon could block iRobot’s rivals from selling products on its online marketplace or limit their visibility in search results.
“Our in-depth investigation preliminarily showed that the acquisition of iRobot would have enabled Amazon to foreclose iRobot’s rivals by restricting or degrading access to the Amazon Stores,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EC’s executive vice president.
Amazon will now need to pay iRobot a $94 million fee for scrapping the deal. Meanwhile, iRobot plans to improve margins, cut R&D spending and pause work on “non-floorcare” products.
