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It ’s been 17 month since Amazonagreed to buy iRobotfor $ 1.7 billion . The subsequent year and a half has unfolded at a glacial tread , as the good deal has inched onwards . Analysts anticipated that the retail hulk ’s purchase of the home plate robot pioneer would face a good bit of regulative scrutiny , though few require the cognitive process to drag on quite this long .
The deal ’s latest hurdle is the European Commission , which has set a February 14 deadline to pass a final conclusion . allot to a unexampled news report , the EU regulative body is set to vote against acquisition , citing the perceived anti - competitive nature of deal . Last workweek , Amazon miss a deadline for put forward concessions to the European Commission .
The Wall Street Journal notesthat Amazon was made mindful of the Commission ’s intent in a late confluence . The deal has already made it through a series of regulative hurdles , including the equivalent U.K. body .
Since denote the deal , Amazon has insist that it wo n’t adversely impact the golem vacuum grocery , while assuring regulators that it will not prioritize iRobot products over the rival through its monolithic retail bearing .
The protracted reexamination period has tested iRobot ’s fortitude . In July , Amazon announced that it was lowering its request price from $ 61 to $ 51.75 per share . The word arrived as the Roomba manufacturing business raised $ 200 million in debt , for keep thing go at the ship’s company while waiting for the deal to conclude . If the acquisition finally goes through , that debt will be channelise to the fresh parent company .
The day the initial deal was announce , iRobot cut its head count by 10 % — around 140 masses – as part of a restructure . The company laid off another 85 masses in February . iRobot ’s breed price also continues to careen from the delays . As of this writing , share price have dipped below $ 20 — one - third of where things were when the deal was announce .
