Amazon’s connected device cart grows with $1.7 billion deal for Roomba-maker

Amazon.com Inc will acquire the maker of robot vacuum cleaner iRobot Corp in an all-cash deal for about $1.7 billion, in the latest push by the world’s largest online retailer to add to its cart of smart home devices.

Amazon will pay $61 per share, valuing iRobot at a premium of 22 per cent from the stock’s last closing price of $49.99.

At its peak, the Roomba maker traded at $197.4 as hygiene-conscious consumers invested in premium robot vacuum cleaners during pandemic lockdowns.

Besides sweeping up dirt, the Roomba vacuums that costs as much as $1,000 collect spatial data on households that could prove valuable to companies developing so-called smart home technology.