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Amazon will no longer pursue a $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot, maker of Roomba robot vacuums after the companies announced today that they have "no path to regulatory approval in the European Union."
On the same day, iRobot announced an "operational restructuring plan" in which 350 employees, or 31 percent of iRobot's workforce, will be laid off. CEO Colin Angle, one of the company's cofounders, will also step down, and the company has hired a chief restructuring officer for its "return to profitability." The company will refocus on its core cleaning product lineup, pausing efforts in air purification, robotic lawn mowing, and education.
As part of the deal's terms, Amazon will pay $94 million to iRobot, most of it earmarked for paying back a three-year, $200 million loan the company took out when the Amazon acquisition was announced in August 2022. iRobot stated in its release that it expected to report losses of "between $265 and $285 million" in the fourth quarter of 2023.
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