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It’s been 17 months since Amazon agreed to purchase iRobot for $1.7 billion. The next yr and a half has unfolded at a glacial tempo, because the deal has inched ahead. Analysts anticipated that the retail big’s buy of the house robotic pioneer would face a great little bit of regulatory scrutiny, although few anticipated the method to pull on fairly this lengthy.
The deal’s newest hurdle is the European Fee, which has set a February 14 deadline to achieve a remaining resolution. Based on a brand new report, the EU regulatory physique is about to vote in opposition to acquisition, citing the perceived anti-competitive nature of deal. Final week, Amazon missed a deadline for submitting concessions to the European Fee.
The Wall Avenue Journal notes that Amazon was made conscious of the Fee’s intentions in a latest assembly. The deal has already made it by a sequence of regulatory hurdles, together with the equal U.Ok. physique.
Since saying the deal, Amazon has insisted that ir received’t adversely influence the robotic vacuum market, whereas assuring regulators that it’ll not prioritize iRobot merchandise over the competitors by its huge retail presence.
The protracted assessment interval has examined iRobot’s fortitude. In July, Amazon introduced that it was decreasing its asking worth from $61 to $51.75 per share. The information arrived because the Roomba maker raised $200 million in debt, with a purpose to maintain issues shifting on the firm whereas ready for the deal to shut. If the acquisition finally goes by, that debt can be transferred to the brand new father or mother firm.
The day the preliminary deal was introduced, iRobot lower its headcount by 10% — round 140 folks – as a part of a restructure. The corporate laid off one other 85 folks in February. iRobot’s inventory worth additionally continues to reel from the delays. As of this writing, share costs have dipped beneath $20 – one-third of the place issues the place when the deal was introduced.
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