Amazon.com Inc. has abandoned its planned $1.4 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot Corp. after clashing with European Union regulators who had threatened to block the deal. The end of the deal is a sign of the intense pressure Amazon is facing to prove its actions don’t harm competition, as its influence grows in retail, cloud-computing, and entertainment. The breakup also spares Amazon the task of stemming the losses incurred by Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot, which has seen its fortunes sour in recent years. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that oversees antitrust, is generally known to opt for remedies that correct any risks to fair competition, rather than ban mergers outright. But companies often short-circuit the process by choosing to abandon deals that appear to be headed for a veto. Amazon’s move, which comes with a $94 million termination fee to be paid to iRobot — follows a similar decision recently from Adobe Inc. executives, who walked away from a planned $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc. after locking horns with antitrust regulators in the EU and the UK. Amazon decided not to offer remedies to concerns flagged by regulators. The commission had earlier warned Amazon could be tempted to demote other robot vacuum cleaners on its platform and promote its own products with such labels as “Amazon’s choice” or “Works With Alexa.” The regulator also said Amazon may find it “economically profitable” to shut out rivals, and had attempted to pressure Amazon into offering concessions in order to get the green light in Brussels, to no avail.

Full story : Amazon ends its $1.4 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot after clashing with EU regulators and will pay a $94 million fee; iRobot has $500 million in net losses since 2021.