Amazon Buying Roomba Maker iRobot

<p>Amazon said it will acquire iRobot for &dollar;1&period;7 billion&comma; best known for its carpet-cleaning robot the Roomba&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Based in Bedford&comma; MA&comma; iRobot has a history of making customers’ lives easier with innovative cleaning products for the home&period; iRobot has continued to innovate with every product generation&comma; solving hard problems to help give customers valuable time back in their day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Amazon will acquire iRobot for &dollar;61 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately &dollar;1&period;7 billion&comma; including iRobot’s net debt&period; Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions&comma; including approval by iRobot’s shareholders and regulatory approvals&period; On completion&comma; Colin Angle will remain as CEO of iRobot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the leading online retailer&comma; Amazon will be in a prime position to heavily promote iRobot&&num;8217&semi;s products on its massive store&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We know that saving time matters&comma; and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love&comma;” said Dave Limp&comma; SVP of Amazon Devices&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over many years&comma; the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive—from cleaning when and where customers want while avoiding common obstacles in the home&comma; to automatically emptying the collection bin&period; Customers love iRobot products—and I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Since we started iRobot&comma; our team has been on a mission to create innovative&comma; practical products that make customers’ lives easier&comma; leading to inventions like the Roomba and iRobot OS&comma;” said Colin Angle&comma; chairman and CEO of iRobot&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Amazon shares our passion for building thoughtful innovations that empower people to do more at home&comma; and I cannot think of a better place for our team to continue our mission&period; I’m hugely excited to be a part of Amazon and to see what we can build together for customers in the years ahead&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;