iRobot, the US company behind the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and agreed to be taken over by one of its Chinese suppliers.
The US-listed firm said it had entered a restructuring deal with Picea Robotics, a subsidiary of its main manufacturing partner, which will acquire the business. The bankruptcy filing was made in Delaware and is intended to allow iRobot to continue operating while it restructures its finances.
Once valued at more than $3bn during the pandemic boom, iRobot has struggled in recent years as demand softened, supply chain problems persisted and cheaper rivals flooded the market. The company warned earlier this month that bankruptcy was a possibility. It reported a net loss of $145.5m last year and is now valued at about $137m.
Chief executive Gary Cohen said the deal would strengthen the company’s financial position, combining iRobot’s product design and research with Picea’s manufacturing and technical expertise.
The takeover comes three years after Amazon abandoned plans to buy iRobot for $1.4bn following opposition from EU competition regulators. That proposed deal had also raised privacy concerns over access to home-mapping data collected by Roomba devices.
iRobot said the bankruptcy process would not disrupt its app, supply chains or customer support, and that it would continue paying employees and suppliers. The company’s shares fell more than 13% following the announcement.
