Amazon’s latest robotics, healthcare buys have the FTC asking more questions
by Emma Roth from The Verge - All Posts on (#639B8)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Amazon's plans to acquire robot vacuum maker iRobot and the 1Life healthcare company behind One Medical, according to reports from Politico and The Wall Street Journal. Amazon announced a $3.9 billion deal to buy One Medical in July and said it would acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion just weeks later.
One Medical serves as a sort of Netflix-for-healthcare subscription service that gives customers access to in-person and virtual appointments at 125 clinics across the US for $199 per year. Meanwhile, iRobot's known for its line of Roomba robot vacuums that have only grown more adept at understanding users' homes and their habits with the rollout of iRobot OS.
The acquisitions of both...