The UK’s antitrust authority (CMA) has approved Amazon’s plan to take over iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, for $1.7 billion. The authority made the announcement today on the British government’s website. The transaction will not threaten competition in Britain, it said. The takeover plan is still under review by the European Commission (EC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States.
Satisfaction
“We are pleased with the UK antitrust authority’s decision and are committed to supporting the regulators in their work,” an Amazon spokesperson responded to the decision. “We look forward to other regulators making similar decisions soon,” he added.
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are wary of small competitors being taken over by large tech companies, especially those with access to large amounts of user data. Approval of such deals is usually preceded by remedies, Reuters notes.
Concerns about Amazon’s market power
The US FTC is also looking into the proposed transaction. It is interested in whether the online retailer Amazon would then increase its market power in the home appliances segment. The EC is taking notice of the deal because of privacy concerns. The Roomba vacuum cleaner is capable of recording data about the space in the home in addition to cleaning.
The EC’s questions, according to Financial Times (FT) sources, mainly concern how the device works and takes pictures. Images taken by a development version of the vacuum cleaner have previously been leaked online. iRobot is investigating the matter and has suspended its cooperation with the supplier that processes the data. The EC is expected to make a decision by 6 July.
source: ČTK
