FILE - An Amazon company logo is seen on the facade of a company's building in Schoenefeld near Berlin, March 18, 2022. France’s privacy watchdog has slapped Amazon’s French warehouse arm with a 32 million euro fine for using an “excessively intrusive sytem†to monitor worker performance and activity. The regulator said Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024 the system allowed managers at Amazon France Logistique to track employees so closely that it resulted in multiple breaches of the European Union’s stringent privacy rules. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
LONDON (AP) – Amazon on Monday called off its proposed acquisition of iRobot, which was facing antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, with the ecommerce giant blaming “undue and disproportionate regulatory hurdles.”
The companies said in joint statement that they “entered into a mutual agreement to terminate their announced acquisition agreement.”
“We’re disappointed that Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot could not proceed,” David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel, said in the statement.
Colin Angle, the founder of iRobot, also said the termination was “disappointing.”
Amazon’s announced in 2022 that it would buy Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot for $1.7 billion, but the value of the deal fell 15% after the company incurred new debt.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, had informed Amazon last year of its “preliminary view” that the acquisition of the maker of the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum would be anticompetitive.
British antitrust regulators cleared the purchase back in June, but it also still faced scrutiny in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission.
