Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is poised to receive unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT), a robot vacuum maker, despite initial warnings from the European Commission about potential competition reduction.
The deal, first announced in August 2022, adds iRobot's Roomba to Amazon's array of smart devices.
Antitrust regulators globally are increasingly scrutinizing major tech acquisitions, wary of data concentration and market dominance exploitation.
The focus of the EU’s investigation centered on the functionality of iRobot's Roomba, particularly its capability to capture images while navigating through a residence.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority has already unconditionally approved the deal after a preliminary review.
Amazon and Microsoft are also facing UK investigations for alleged anti-competitive behavior in cloud computing, and the US Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the tech giant's iRobot deal.
The European Commission is expected to decide on the deal by February 14, 2024.