UK Gives Green Light To Amazon’s Acquisition Of iRobot For $1.7 Billion
The proposed acquisition of iRobot Corp, the manufacturer of Roomba vacuum cleaner, by Amazon.com Inc worth $1.7 billion has been approved by the competition regulator of Britain on Friday.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had concluded that the deal would not lead to competition concerns in the UK.
“We welcome the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s decision and are committed to supporting the regulatory bodies in their work,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
“We expect similar decisions from other regulatory authorities soon.”
In April, the CMA had launched a “Phase 1” review of the deal, which was announced in August last year as Amazon seeks to expand its stable of smart home devices, which include the Alexa voice assistant, smart thermostats, security devices and the wall. installed smart screens and a dog-like robot called Astro.
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are wary of Big Tech acquiring smaller rivals, especially those with access to large amounts of user data, and are demanding remedial action in exchange for approving such deals.
“It is a significant milestone, and both companies will continue to work with other relevant regulatory authorities to evaluate the merger,” iRobot CEO Colin Angle said in a statement.
The news sent shares of US-based iRobot up 12 percent ahead of the IPO, while Amazon’s stock fell slightly.
EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 6 whether to approve the deal, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the acquisition.
