Antitrust regulators got a lesson in preserving competition today: Blocking acquisitions isn’t always the solution. The company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, iRobot, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday after a long decline caused by competition. As part of the bankruptcy, the company has reached a deal to be acquired by one of its creditors, Shenzhen Picea Robotics, the Chinese company that actually makes the device (iRobot designs its robots but it doesn’t make them). Being swallowed up by a Chinese company didn’t have to be the ending for iRobot, which three roboticists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded in 1990. In 2022, Amazon agreed to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion, or $61 a share. But after a long investigation by antitrust authorities in the U.S. and Europe, Amazon abandoned the purchase. The Federal Trade Commission, then overseen by Lina Khan, put out a statement saying it was “pleased”—as though killing the deal was a feather in its cap. The FTC’s concern was that Amazon would have an “incentive to favor its own products.” But Amazon didn’t need to own Roomba to promote the product. As iRobot said in a bankruptcy court filing on Sunday, 35% of iRobot’s sales in 2024 came through Amazon. “A substantial portion of iRobot’s online strategy is driven through Amazon.com,” the bankruptcy filing said. At the time the deal fell apart, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on CNBC that regulators appeared to trust Chinese firms “more than they do Amazon.” It certainly seems that way. #ScholER #Robotics Revolution 🦾🤖🦿 #The Most Important Thing https://www.cnbc.com/2024..