Amazon abandons $1.4 billion deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot

A robot vacuum with mopping arm deployed. The arm is a circular section of the top case of the Roomba with a mop pad on the underside. It presses against the floor when in use. — *One of iRobot’s Roombas in action.* | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Amazon’s deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot is off, the companies announced today, after iRobot said the deal has “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union.” iRobot is also announcing that it’s laying off around 350 employees, or around 31 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring. It expects to notify the majority of affected employees by the end of March.

As part of the announcement, iRobot chair and CEO Colin Angle, who co-founded the company in 1990, is stepping down. iRobot’s current executive vice president and chief legal officer, Glen Weinstein, will serve as interim CEO, and Andrew Miller, formerly lead independent director of the board, will become chair. iRobot says it hopes to return to profitability by...

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