Amazon Is Acquiring iRobot For $1.7 Billion

Today, iRobot announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Amazon, where it will acquire iRobot.

Amazon is going to be paying $61 per share for iRobot, or about $1.7 billion. That’s about a 20% premium on where iRobot’s stock price closed on Thursday.

“We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices. “Over many years, 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, to automatically emptying the collection bin. 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.”

Why is Amazon buying iRobot?

In recent years, Amazon has been growing its hardware portfolio, buying companies like Ring and eero. And now iRobot is going to be added to the mix. That’s going to make it a lot easier for Amazon to create an entire smart home ecosystem for everyone.

And when it comes to robot vacuums, iRobot is the best choice to acquire. iRobot has been synonymous with robot vacuums for many years. Like “Galaxy” is with Android, “Roomba is with robot vacuums. Many don’t say they have a robot vacuum, but that they have a Roomba – even if it’s not an iRobot product. So for the branding, this was the best choice for Amazon to make.

Now, with this announcement, it would not be a surprise to see a lot of people ditching their Roomba’s and going with another brand. After all, we did see this when Amazon bought eero and Ring, as well as when Google bought Nest. But it’ll be interesting to see what Amazon does with iRobot.