Amazon has not offered remedies to EU concerns over iRobot deal

Amazon has not offered any remedies over concerns raised by EU antitrust regulators over its acquisition of robot vaccum maker iRobot.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Amazon has not offered remedies to address concerns of EU antitrust regulators over its $1.4 billion acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot , according to an update on the European Commission website.

The U.S. e-commerce giant had until Wednesday to do so.

The European Commission’s competition officials in November sent a warning to the company that the deal could restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners, a sign that they wanted remedies from Amazon.

Amazon had been set to win unconditional EU clearance for the deal after the Commission’s lawyers initially disagreed with such a warning, sources told Reuters in November.

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The lawyers subsequently dropped their objections to such a charge sheet, known as a statement of objections.

The absence of remedies could mean either unconditional EU antitrust approval or an EU veto of the deal.