Amazon called off its proposed acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot on Monday as the deal faced antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, with the ecommerce giant blaming undue and disproportionate regulatory hurdles. The companies said in joint statement that they entered into a mutual agreement to terminate their announced acquisition agreement and expressed disappointment. Amazon's announced in 2022 that it would buy iRobot, maker of the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum, for $1.7 billion in cash. But the value of the deal fell 15% after iRobot incurred new debt. Amazon will pay the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company a previously agreed termination fee, which wasn't disclosed in the statement Monday. The same day, iRobot announced that it would now lay off about 31% of its staff and its CEO would depart. The European Commission, the European Union's executive arm and top antitrust enforcer, had informed Amazon last year of its preliminary view that the acquisition of t Read The Rest at :