2024-01-19 19:08:00
Amazon’s $1.4 billion acquisition of AirRobot appears likely to be blocked by the European Union’s Antitrust Authority. Although this is a small blow for the retail giant, it is a reminder to investors that the regulators are still not enthusiastic about purchases made by the technology giants.
According to reports, at last night’s meeting between the officials of the European Commission and Amazon, the officials announced that the deal is expected to be rejected. The purchase of AirRobot for $61 per share was agreed back in August 2022 and was expected to expand the array of smart products of the retail giant, which includes the virtual assistant Alexa, the smart door camera and more.
The blocking of the deal was completely unexpected. The European Commission initially sent a statement of objections to the deal to Amazon in November 2023, saying it was concerned the acquisition would limit competition in the robotic vacuum cleaner market. Amazon, for its part, has not announced any actions it intends to take in order to calm the regulators’ concerns.
Regulators have recently been taking a mixed approach when it comes to approving and blocking transactions related to the tech giants. However, two major deals were completed last year and indicated a resurgence in the M&A market. Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision was completed despite regulatory challenges from the US and UK authorities. While Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware was completed after difficulties with the Chinese regulator. Last December, Adobe’s purchase of the design software company Pigma fell through 20 billion dollars following objections from the European regulator.
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