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The European Commission is concerned that Amazon will have an incentive to foreclose iRobot rivals if the deal takes place.
Amazon’s ambition to acquire the Roomba-maker iRobot faces another hurdle, as the EU has raised competition concerns.
The European Commission informed Amazon of its “preliminary view” that the proposed acquisition may restrict competition in the robot vacuum cleaner market. The Commission shared a statement of objections that list its concerns.
These concerns are that Amazon could gain the ability and incentive to foreclose rivals of iRobot and strengthen its own position in the online market relative to third-party sellers.
The EU notes that iRobot currently sells its products through Amazon’s online store. The statement claims Amazon’s online store is already a “particularly important channel” to sell robot vacuum cleaners in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
The objections follow an in-depth investigation that the EU launched in July to understand the market and the potential impact of this deal.
Amazon has time to respond to the Commission’s concerns before it makes a final decision on the deal. The deadline for a final decision is set for 14 February 2024.
Amazon first announced plans to acquire iRobot for $1.7bn in August 2022. Senior VP of Amazon Devices, Dave Limp, said at the time that the iRobot team has “proven its ability to reinvent how people clean” with its products.
But Amazon’s iRobot deal is facing scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began a probe into the deal last year, after roughly 20 pro-privacy, digital rights and worker organisations urged US antitrust enforcers to stop the deal.
Meanwhile, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority was initially hesitant to allow the deal to go through because it was concerned the loss of potential competition could be “substantial” and that Amazon could use its market dominance to disadvantage other robot vacuum suppliers. However, the CMA said in June that it was no longer concerned that the deal will harm competition in the UK.
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