Topline
Amazon is buying iRobot, the manufacturer of Roomba robot vacuum cleaners, in a $1.7 billion all-cash deal, marking a major addition to Amazon’s growing list of smart home technology products.
Roomba is set to join a growing list of Amazon smart home technology products.
Key Facts
The agreement values iRobot shares at $61—some 22% higher than the $49.99 per share iRobot closed at Thursday.
iRobot’s stock price surged more than 19% to $59.50 after the market opened Friday morning, though Amazon’s stock price dropped 1.3% to $140.67 Friday morning as part of a broad market downturn in response to a stronger-than-expected July jobs report.
Colin Angle will remain CEO of iRobot after the deal is finalized, the companies said in a news release.
What To Watch For
The deal requires regulatory approval and approval by iRobot’s shareholders to go through.
Key Background
Amazon is among the industry leaders in smart home technology products, best known for its Alexa virtual assistant and the Ring video doorbell. iRobot became one of the pioneering companies in smart home technology with the release of Roomba in 2002, and it has subsequently released nine additional generations of the robot vacuum cleaner. The $1.7 billion deal is Amazon’s fourth-biggest acquisition, behind its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods in 2017, $8.5 billion purchase of MGM in March and a $3.9 billion agreement in July to buy 1Life Healthcare, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Further Reading
How Amazon Changed Whole Foods (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/08/05/amazon-buying-roomba-maker-irobot-in-17-billion-deal-to-grow-its-arsenal-of-connected-devices/