Closing post
Time to wrap up…
Amazon has dropped its planned acquisition of the Roomba vacuum cleaner maker iRobot, days after it was reported the EU was preparing to block the deal.
The e-commerce company will pay a $94m break fee to iRobot, which immediately announced plans to axe 31% of its workforce – or 350 employees – and the departure of its chief executive.
The Wall Street Journal had reported on 18 January that the EU’s executive arm was preparing to block the deal and had informed Amazon of its proposed view.
Amazon and iRobot said in a joint statement the takeover had “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union, preventing Amazon and iRobot from moving forward together”.
iRobot is now planning 350 jobs cuts, or almost a third of its workforce, as it tries to cut costs.
In other news…
Online betting company Flutter is proposing moving the primary listing of its shares from London to New York, as its shares start to trade on Wall Street for the first time today.
The change is subject to shareholders’ approval at a vote in May, and would be another blow to the London Stock Exchange, even though Flutter would keep a secondary listing here.
The oil price hit its highest level since November, before dropping back, as tensions in the Middle East rose after three US troops were killed in drone strike yesterday and an oil tanker was hit by a missile on Friday night.
There were more profit warnings from UK companies last year than in 2008, during the financial crisis, as firms were hit by high interest rates, cuts to spending, and cost pressures.
More UK house sellers have been accepting offers below their asking price, as the property sector remains a buyers market, Zoopla reported.
Ryanair has lowered its profit forecast, after cutting fares after online travel agents dropped offering its flights.
The euro hit a five-month low against the pound, as traders anticipate that the European Central Bank will move faster than the Bank of England to cut interest rates this year.
As feared, shares in iRobot have tumbled at the start of trading in New York.
They’re down 17% at $14.12.
That means they have lost two-thirds of their value in the last year, having tumbled around 40% at one point last week when the Wall Street Journal reported that the EU was planning to block Amazon’s takeover.
