Amazon's $1.7 Billion Proposed Purchase of Roomba Maker Under FTC Investigation (wsj.com) 22
Federal antitrust enforcers are investigating Amazon proposal to buy Roomba maker iRobot, according to a securities filing. WSJ: The Federal Trade Commission this week formally requested documents from both companies explaining the proposed $1.7 billion deal's purpose and rationale, iRobot disclosed on Tuesday. The FTC's review is the latest investigation involving Amazon. The agency also is examining Amazon's $3.9 billion deal to buy 1Life Healthcare, which operates One Medical primary-care clinics in 25 U.S. markets.
The filing by iRobot said both companies would cooperate with the FTC's investigation and expect to promptly reply to the FTC's request. After an investigation, which typically takes up to a year, the FTC can sue to block a merger, seek concessions such as divestitures or decline to take action, allowing a deal to close. The FTC under Chairwoman Lina Khan is taking a skeptical view of acquisitions by technology giants, saying the deals often hurt competition and give the incumbent firms control over valuable consumer data. The agency recently sued to block Meta Platforms from acquiring Within Unlimited and its virtual-reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural. Amazon says it has been "very good stewards of peoples' data across all of our businesses" and that it isn't acquiring iRobot to gather intelligence from inside customers' homes. The Roomba is a consumer-oriented vacuum cleaner that collects data about its users' homes using cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The filing by iRobot said both companies would cooperate with the FTC's investigation and expect to promptly reply to the FTC's request. After an investigation, which typically takes up to a year, the FTC can sue to block a merger, seek concessions such as divestitures or decline to take action, allowing a deal to close. The FTC under Chairwoman Lina Khan is taking a skeptical view of acquisitions by technology giants, saying the deals often hurt competition and give the incumbent firms control over valuable consumer data. The agency recently sued to block Meta Platforms from acquiring Within Unlimited and its virtual-reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural. Amazon says it has been "very good stewards of peoples' data across all of our businesses" and that it isn't acquiring iRobot to gather intelligence from inside customers' homes. The Roomba is a consumer-oriented vacuum cleaner that collects data about its users' homes using cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Rationale from iRobot (Score:2)
"We, the founders of iRobot, want to become filthy rich."
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> "We, the founders of iRobot, want to become filthy rich."
I joined an alleged up-and-coming dot-com startup in the late 1990's, and one day my colleague confided to me: "Hey, cool your jets about data integrity because we're not trying to make a big powerful system, just something that looks cool to potential buyers of this firm, and checks off the right buzzwords."
They ended up with neither. My stock options were worth squat.
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I went through something similar back in 1998-1999, but the company WAS trying to do something legitimate, except they didn't count on everyone else figuring out how to do it. "It" being online billing. We got a lot of money invested, hired teams of developers, built a swanky new campus with miniature golf courses on all 3 floors and an amazing looking server room. I had a sign on bonus of like 10k shares that would vest in 2 years, struck at like $2.50 per share. Our IPO came 6 months later, and the stock
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Were you allowed to cash any out at time of IPO (when $25/s)? The dot-com days were indeed insane. Everyone was thinking, "I gotta get a piece of all this action!" I tried a few of my own startups even. One showed promise, but required putting in a lot of time to feed it.
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Yip, the rats always get to flee the Titanic first.
Window washer (Score:1)
yeah sure (Score:3)
> it isn't acquiring iRobot to gather intelligence from inside customers' homes
Then why did you have to come out and say that? Of course its about profiling people to show them more things you can sell them.
I tried a roomba once, it was noisy and next to useless, scared small children and freaked out pets. Never again even before Amazon.
Re:yeah sure (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, I don't get it. I have one of the top of the line ones from a few years ago, and the thing gets stuck under toilets, in rugs/bath mats, and grossly under-delivers time and time again. They also have viable competitors for the market, and in general have failed to make significant improvements over the past 3-5 years.
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My spouse is a gadget freak and bought an original Roomba and another several years later. There were no noticeable improvements. They had put zero effort into fixing the problems.
She also bought a Xiaomi vacuum robot which is obviously a Roomba knockoff but works much better.
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it was noisy
Solution: Program it to run while you're at work.
scared small children and freaked out pets.
That's a feature, not a bug.
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Actual solution: remove it from my home. It was useless anyway, I can get more done in 2 minutes with a broom and clean up is easier.
You'd better hope that it never runs into say scat or vomit from a pet because you'll have a much bigger problem on your hands.
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I was once locked out of my house by my Roomba.
I use a 2x2 piece of wood in the track of my sliding door for security. I removed it, opened the door, and went into my backyard, closing the door behind me.
While I was outside, the Roomba started up and began vacuuming. It then ran into the 2x2 brace, knocking it back into the track.
I had to get a ladder from the shed and use it to climb into a 2nd story window.
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Yeah, roombas are loud. But it's a vacuum. Every vacuum is loud.
It's not perfect, but it gets the vast majority of the dirt off my hardwood floors. Usually only needs a little touch up afterwards. I've got kids and birds - they all get excited by it. I usually run it when the kids are in bed tho to reduce the chaos. Certainly worth the time it saves me.
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"Roomba Nation" coming soon o amazon prime
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Funny videos of a Roomba smearing poop all over the room? Of cats going on a ride along? Gee can't wait.
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I tried a roomba once, it was noisy and next to useless, scared small children and freaked out pets.
It depends very much on your particular circumstances. I have a Roomba and it's one of the better purchases I ever made. I don't have small children or pets, nor any of those frilly carpets. The bulk of the work is to put the chairs on the table, then start the thing and go to the office (or coffee, depending on the day/mood). By the time I get back the carpet is reasonably clean and the thing is back in its cradle recharging.
Easy FCC Consession (Score:2)
Since Amazon is not acquiring Roomba to gather intelligence on customers, then they will have no problem isolating any and all Roomba relate data and activities from any and all other Amazon activities and uses. Furthermore, no Amazon account will ever be required to use or purchase a Roomba or Roomba like device owned or produced by Amazon. etc.
My Roomba chasing me to buy stuff on Amazon (Score:2)
Sound like a good plot for the Idiocracy2 movie.