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Britain's competition watchdog said on Tuesday it had launched a "phase 1" investigation into Amazon.com Inc's planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp, which makes the Roomba vacuum cleaner. The launch of the investigation by the British watchdog comes at a time when antitrust regulators, including those in the United States and the European Union, are increasingly wary of giant companies buying up smaller rivals. The Amazon-iRobot deal, announced in August last year to expand the company's suite of smart home devices, is already under review by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Amazon, along with Microsoft, are currently under antitrust investigation in Britain after the communications regulator said aspects of the cloud market, including exchange fees, were a cause for concern.
In response to a Reuters request for comment, Amazon said the company was working cooperatively with relevant regulators in their review of the merger.
An iRobot spokesperson told Reuters that the company continues to cooperate with the US FTC and other regulatory agencies.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had until June 16 to decide whether the Amazon-iRobot deal would reduce competition in the UK.
