TL;DR
- Amazon has agreed to acquire iRobot, the company that makes the popular Roomba family of robot vacuums.
- Amazon will pay $1.7 billion in an all-cash transaction.
- The deal still needs approval from iRobot shareholders and government regulators.
Amazon is making another big acquisition that will make it a major player in a growing smart home-based business. The retail giant just announced plans to buy iRobot, home of the popular Roomba line of robot vacuums.
iRobot was formed before Amazon, back in 1990, but it only launched its first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002. The product, which automated a normally boring household chore, turned the Roomba into a true household name. The company sold 30 million Roombas by the end of 2020. However, in the nearly 20 years since its first release, other companies have entered the robot vacuum market with some success, including Roborock, Shark, and Eufy. Amazon’s move to buy iRobot could help extend Roomba’s market share.
Read more: The best robot vacuums
Amazon will pay $1.7 billion to purchase iRobot in an all-cash transaction. However, the deal won’t be final until it gets approval from iRobot’s shareholders, also being subject to regulatory approval. Amazon did not announce an expected date for the deal to close. When and if it does, Colin Angle, the current head of iRobot, will continue to be CEO of the company.
This is just the latest acquisition Amazon has made in the smart home space. It bought the Blink smart security camera company in 2017 and the Ring smart doorbell company in 2018.
