Amazon terminates iRobot deal, Roomba maker to lay off 31% of staff

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 245 points – Amazon terminates iRobot deal, vacuum maker to lay off 31% of staff
cnbc.com

Amazon terminates iRobot deal, Roomba maker to lay off 31% of staff::Amazon and iRobot said regulatory concerns made it impossible for the deal to move forward, sending the Roomba makers' shares plummeting.

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No Amazon does not terminate the deal, the EU did. Because otherwise Amazon will have too much power over the robot industry.

And, Amazon didn't want to give up the 'mapping everyone's home and tracking them' concept.

Technically, no, iRobot and Amazon "mutually agreed" to terminate the deal, most likely cause the EU probably wasn't going to approve, but:

  1. The EU was set to deliberate in mid Feb, so they didn't (yet)
  2. It's also possible that Amazon used the likely rejection of the EU as an excuse to back out of a deal they didn't want anymore

I don't know which one it is, but if Amazon wanted to close, they would've been willing to make concessions to the EU to get their approval, rather than backing out.