Amazon abandons $1.4 billion iRobot acquisition after EU veto threat

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Amazon and iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuum line, just announced that they would be dropping their proposed merger. The potential acquisition was
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and was immediately the target of antitrust watchdogs, particularly in the EU. The European Commission (the EU's executive branch) officially announced
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the
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last July and it
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over the potential impact on competition in November.

While the companies didn't mention the pressure from the EU specifically,
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that a veto looked likely. And while that might not have immediately killed the deal, Amazon and iRobot appear to have decided to shut things down completely rather than work through any proposed changes to make the deal more palatable to regulators.


Earlier in January, the European Commission was said to have warned Amazon that the deal was on thin ice. However, according to
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, the company declined to offer any potential remedies to soothe the bloc's concerns over the acquisition.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at
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