Amazon has not offered remedies to EU concerns over iRobot deal

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

The US e-commerce giant had until Wednesday (Jan 10) 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.

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. REUTERS