Amazon abandons $1.4 billion deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot
by Jon Porter from The Verge - All Posts on (#6J780)
One of iRobot's Roombas in action. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Amazon's deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot is off, the companies announced today, after iRobot said the deal has no path to regulatory approval in the European Union." iRobot is also announcing that it's laying off around 350 employees, or around 31 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring. It expects to notify the majority of affected employees by the end of March.
As part of the announcement, iRobot chair and CEO Colin Angle, who co-founded the company in 1990, is stepping down from both roles. iRobot's current executive vice president and chief legal officer, Glen Weinstein, will serve as interim CEO, and Andrew Miller, formerly lead independent director of the board, will become chair. As part of the restructuring, iRobot...