iRobot rises on Amazon talk

Nov. 24, 2023 Updated Fri., Nov. 24, 2023 at 4:45 p.m.

iRobot Corp., the vacuum-cleaner maker that Amazon.com Inc. is proposing to buy in a billion-dollar deal, soared by the most in nearly three years on a report that European Union regulators plan to clear the merger.

Amazon is set to gain unconditional EU antitrust approval for its acquisition of the Bedford, Massachusetts-based maker of Roomba vacuums, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

EU regulators decided to perform an in-depth investigation into the deal earlier this year on concerns that the takeover could thwart competitors by handing Amazon access to a new stash of user data.

In July, Amazon announced that it would pay less to buy iRobot to account for fresh financing taken out by the company and as the merger review dragged on, sending shares of the robotics company plunging.

iRobot shares rose by as much as 34% on Friday to $39.99, giving the company a market value of just over $1 billion.

OPEC+ expected to cut oil supply

After a week of turmoil, expectations for the delayed OPEC+ meeting have shifted.

Saudi Arabia and Russia – leaders of the OPEC+ coalition – are still largely expected to extend output curbs of just over 1 million barrels a day through the first quarter to shore up prices, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts.

But despite a postponement of the gathering amid a dispute over output quotas for African members, around half of respondents now see OPEC+ unveiling measures to tighten oil markets when it gathers on Nov. 30.

Last week, only one had such expectations.

Six of those surveyed predict the additional curbs will be spread across its partners, while two projected they’d be made by Riyadh and Moscow alone.

From wire reports

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