The US company behind the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner has filed for bankruptcy protection and agreed to be taken over by one of its Chinese suppliers.
iRobot, which pioneered robotic vacuum cleaners in the early 2000s, said it had entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware as part of a restructuring deal with Picea Robotics, a subsidiary of its main supplier. The US-listed company said the agreement would allow it to continue operating while stabilising its finances.
The company has struggled in recent years amid supply chain disruption, falling demand after the pandemic and growing competition from cheaper rivals. Earlier this month, iRobot warned that bankruptcy was a possibility. Its chief executive, Gary Cohen, said the takeover would strengthen the business by combining iRobot’s design and research capabilities with Picea’s manufacturing and technical expertise.
The deal comes three years after Amazon abandoned a planned $1.4bn takeover of iRobot following objections from EU competition regulators. Although iRobot received compensation after the collapse of that deal, much of the money was used to repay debt.
The acquisition by a Chinese company may revive concerns about data privacy, as previous takeover attempts prompted fears over access to detailed home mapping data collected by Roomba devices. iRobot said the bankruptcy process would not disrupt its products, app, supply chains or customer support.
Founded in 1990 by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iRobot was valued at more than $3bn during the pandemic boom in 2021. It is now worth about $137m, after reporting a net loss of $145.5m last year.
