amazon has finally thrown in the towel and will not move forward with the purchase of iRobot, the maker of Roomba robot vacuum cleaners. Both companies announced that, by mutual agreement, they have decided to cancel the agreement that they had announced in August 2022.
In this way, then, the transaction valued at 1.7 billion dollars has been written off. As stipulated, Amazon will pay iRobot $94 million to exit the acquisition before completing it.
Although the companies did not specifically mention the reason behind this decision, everything indicates that the threat of a veto by the European Commission was crucial. Regulators had set a deadline for Amazon to submit concessions to get the go-ahead, but Andy Jassy’s had not done so.
That said, canceling the purchase brings harsh consequences to iRobot. The manufacturer of Roomba vacuum cleaners announced a tough restructuring plan. It includes the output of Colin Angle as CEO and chairman of the board of directors, as well as the dismissal of 31% of the company’s staff. The latter impacts approximately 350 workers.
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