Roomba maker files for bankruptcy, weighed down by debt and tariffs
The U.S. company that put robot vacuums into American homes has hit the skids.
The maker of Roomba, called iRobot, has filed for bankruptcy about two years after its failed merger with Amazon. The company has struggled to keep up with foreign rivals, its hefty debt and new costs of tariffs. The firm is now being taken over by its main manufacturer based in China, assuring owners that its devices will keep running as usual.
Most Roombas are manufactured in Vietnam, so the company faced new import fees under President Trump’s trade regime. In its bankruptcy filing, the company says it owes U.S. Customs and Border Protection $3.4 million in unpaid tariffs. iRobot also owes nearly $100 million to the supplier taking over the firm, called Shenzhen Picea Robotics.
MIT researchers founded it
Founded in 1990 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iRobot first made devices that helped the U.S. military, searched the Great Pyramid of Giza and tracked an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Then it introduced U.S. home owners to devices that could clean their floors and pools, including the popular Roomba.
But in recent years, iRobot has struggled financially. Smart vacuums from foreign rivals, especially Chinese ones, often came at cheaper prices.
Amazon’s offer to buy iRobot for $1.4 billion fell apart last year under scrutiny from European and U.S. competition regulators. iRobot was left with a $200 million loan it had taken to sustain itself during the merger review.
All year, the firm has been losing money. In the latest quarter, iRobot reported its revenue declined by 33% in the U.S. In March, it had begun warning of a possible bankruptcy, citing worries about consumer demand, competitors and tariffs.
As part of the bankruptcy plan, iRobot will go private to become part of Picea. The Chinese firm makes competing household devices under its own brand 3i and on its website lists other brands such as Shark and Anker, which makes Eufy vacuums.
What do eggs, Grok and Greenland have in common? They’re all quiz-worthy! Are you?
See if you can get a perfect score for once.
House Republicans are investigating Jan. 6. NPR fact-checked the first hearing
A Republican-led congressional subcommittee is leading a new investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Do their claims add up?
Jodie Foster plans more French roles after ‘A Private Life’
Jodie Foster has spoken French since she was a child. But it's only now that she's taken on a lead role scripted almost entirely in the language of Molière, for A Private Life.
With limited political power, Minnesota Democrats navigate resistance to Trump
From public pleas to lawsuits, Minnesota's Democratic leaders are trying to stop the surge of federal agents on their streets.
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is ‘Game of Thrones’ for the haters
There are no dragons, no maps and no internecine family trees in this Game of Thrones prequel about an underdog knight and his would-be squire.
FEMA is getting rid of thousands of workers in areas recovering from disasters
Thousands of employees whose contracts end this year will lose their jobs, FEMA managers said at personnel meetings this week. The cuts could hobble the nation's disaster agency.
