The European Union (EU)’s competition watchdogs apparently want to block Amazon’s $1.4 billion takeover of the vacuum cleaner robot manufacturer iRobot. Like that Wall Street Journal Citing people familiar with the matter, Amazon was informed during a meeting with European Commission staff on Thursday that the deal was likely to be rejected. The company declined to comment for this report.
The reason for the decision is apparently that the US technology giant had not addressed EU antitrust watchdogs’ concerns that the deal could restrict competition in the market for vacuum cleaner robots by January 10, according to an update on the European Commission’s website.
Amazon had announced its plans to purchase iRobot in August 2022 to expand its portfolio of smart devices. The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s competition authority, has until February 14 to either approve or reject the deal. The vacuum cleaner manufacturer’s shares fell almost 40 percent to $14.3 after hours.