San Francisco: Britain’s antitrust authorities have cleared Amazon’s proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, which designs and builds consumer robots, including robot vacuum cleaners sold under the Roomba brand.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that iRobot’s market position in the supply of robotic vacuum cleaners in the UK is modest and that the company already faces several significant competitors.
“Based on this, the CMA concluded that the loss of potential competition from Amazon would not have a material impact on market results,” it said in a statement.
The iRobot acquisition wouldn’t put Amazon’s competing “smart home” platforms at a disadvantage.
“This is largely because robotic vacuum cleaners (and the data they collect) are not generally seen as a major input into the UK’s emerging ‘smart home’ market,” the CMA said.
The CMA also noted that there are definitely several alternative robot vacuums with capabilities similar to iRobot that could be part of competing “smart home” offerings.
“More and more people are choosing to bring ‘smart’ technology into their homes, whether it’s listening to the radio through a smart speaker, answering the door with a video doorbell, or cleaning floors with robot vacuums,” said Colin Raftery , Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA.
“After a thorough investigation, we are satisfied that the deal would have no impact on competition in the UK,” added the CMA.
This post was last modified on June 17, 2023 at 6:11 p.m
