Co-founder and CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, has previously spoken on the record to reassure users about the safety of their data. He claims customer data should be “controlled by the customer and not as a data asset of a corporation to exploit,” data would not be sold to third parties, and communication between the company’s devices and other smart products would be secure. It remains to be seen if Amazon will carry on this policy.
According to Businesswire, Amazon will be paying around $61 a share to acquire iRobot, and will face a total bill of $1.7 billion. The figure includes debts the robotic vacuum manufacturer has acquired. On the face of it, things don’t seem likely to change too much at iRobot in the short term. Colin Angle is set to stay on as CEO, the company will maintain its name, and Amazon seems to be looking more towards collaboration with iRobot rather than consumption of the company in its entirety.
Although the price has been set and the terms have been agreed upon, the deal still isn’t complete. It is still subject to approval from iRobot’s shareholders and other conditions.
