2023-06-22 13:06:59 ET
Shares of iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) had fallen by 8.4% as of 11:45 a.m. ET in Thursday trading, after Reuters reported that the European Union has launched a "full-scale" antitrust investigation of Amazon 's (NASDAQ: AMZN) plan to acquire the maker of Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots.
Investors were presumably caught off guard by the announcement, which came just a week after the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority gave its assent to the deal . Now, with the European Commission taking the opposite course, iRobot (and Amazon) investors have months of new uncertainty to look forward to.
Reuters notes that the E.U.'s antitrust regulator will conduct a "preliminary review" of the deal through July 6, which will be followed by a "four-month investigation." So in total, we're probably looking at five more months, minimum, before Amazon might be allowed to proceed with its purchase of iRobot.
For further details see:
Why iRobot Stock Short-Circuited Today