Amazon’s $1.7B iRobot buy faces UK antitrust scrutiny

LONDON — British antitrust regulators have began investigating Amazon’s buy of robotic vacuum maker iRobot, including additional scrutiny to the $1.7 billion deal.

The Competitors and Markets Authority mentioned Thursday that it’s contemplating whether or not the deal will end in a “substantial lessening of competitors” inside the UK. In an preliminary step, the U.Okay. watchdog invited feedback on the deal from “any get together.”

The acquisition is already dealing with a overview within the U.S. by the Federal Commerce Fee amid worries about Amazon’s rising market energy. Shopper teams had voiced considerations after the deal was introduced final yr that it might additional the e-commerce big’s dominance within the sensible dwelling market.

Amazon mentioned it’s “working cooperatively with the related regulators of their overview of the merger.”

Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot, which makes the favored Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, mentioned it “continues to work cooperatively with each the U.S. FTC and different regulatory businesses of their overview of the Amazon-iRobot merger.”