iRobot / Facebook
The North American company behind the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, whose profits have been falling since the pandemic, requested protection under the bankruptcy regime and agreed to be acquired by one of its Chinese suppliers.
best known for launching the Roomba vacuum cleaner in the early 2000s, will be controlled by a subsidiary of its main supplier, .
The Roomba maker, listed on the US stock exchange, announced that it presented a insolvency request under “Chapter 11”, in the State of Delaware, under a restructuring agreement com a Picea.
iRobot’s results have been under pressure in recent years, affected by supply chain issues and the rise of competitors cheaper. The company warned earlier this month that could face bankruptcynote or .
The executive director of iRobot, Gary Cohenstated that the agreement with Picea would strengthen the company’s financial position.
“By combining iRobot’s innovation, consumer-driven design and research and development with Picea’s track record of innovation, manufacturing capacity and technical expertise, we believe that iRobot will be well prepared to shape the next era of robotics for the smart home”, these.
The agreement with Picea comes 3 years after the Amazon has made a proposal to buy iRobot, valuing the company at 1.4 billion dollars (about 1.2 billion euros), in an attempt to strengthen its portfolio of consumer technology products, such as Alexa smart speakers and Ring doorbells.
However, the business ended up falling apartdue to an impasse with competition authorities in the European Union.
iRobot received 94 million dollars as compensation due to the collapse of the agreement, but part of this amount was used to pay fees consulting firm and repay a portion of a loan from private equity group Carlyle. Last month, a Picea subsidiary in Hong Kong acquired the remaining portion of that debt.
A acquisition of the company by a Chinese entity may however rekindle Surveillance-related concerns.
Amazon’s attempt to buy iRobot raised fears among privacy advocates, who feared that technology could have access to plants from users’ homes, generated by mapping features of the vacuum cleaner.
The insolvency plan will allow iRobot maintain activity and continue to fulfill its commitments to workers, in addition to making full payments to suppliers and other creditors, the company said in a statement.
Founded in 1990 by three robotics experts from MITiRobot helped pave the way for consumer robotic products.
Many of the newer versions of Roomba include features controlled through the brand’s app. The company stated that filing for protection under Chapter 11 should not affect the applicationsupply chains or product support.
iRobot, which registered a net loss of 145.5 million dollars Last year, it was evaluated in more than 3 billion dollars in 2021, driven by strong demand for household cleaning products during the pandemic. It is currently valued at around 137 million dollars.
On Friday, the iRobot shares fell more than 13% in New York. Year to date, the company has lost around 45% of its market value.
