Financial Times: EU to investigate acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot by Amazon

The European Union is to launch a competition investigation into Amazon’s acquisition of Roomba vacuum cleaner maker iRobot. That’s what insiders say to the Financial Times. Amazon tells Reuters it is currently “talking with relevant regulators.”

EU regulators are said to have recently sent Amazon a list of “detailed questions” about the proposed takeover, two sources tell the Financial Times. Europe seems to be preparing for a formal investigation into the deal. Researchers at the European Commission would have privacy concerns about the takeover, among other things.

The FT writes based on sources that the region wants to start an antitrust case against Amazon soon, although the start of such a formal investigation could take weeks. This is an introductory ‘phase 1’ investigation, in which the EU considers possible concerns about company takeovers. If those concerns cannot be resolved by interested parties during that initial investigation, the EU usually follows up such an investigation with a more extensive phase 2 investigation.

Supervisors would like to investigate, among other things, the operation of the Roomba, the FT writes. Particular attention would be paid to the ability of the vacuum cleaners to take pictures as they move through a home. The EU would look at how the tech giant could use the acquisition to combine Roomba data with Alexa voice assistant to gain a competitive advantage.

Amazon and the EU did not respond to requests for comment from the Financial Times. Amazon.com says to Reuters that it is currently “talking to regulators” while the acquisition is being investigated. The American FTC has already started an investigation into the takeover and is said to have recently asked the company for more information.

Amazon announced in August that it wants to acquire iRobot. The company wants to pay $ 1.7 billion for the robot vacuum cleaner manufacturer.