Battenfeld: Elizabeth Warren wins as Amazon abandons iRobot deal, forcing 350 layoffs

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who urged federal regulators to kill the Amazon-iRobot merger, finally got her wish this week when Amazon abandoned the deal, forcing the layoffs of 350 workers at the Massachusetts-based robotics company.

The Massachusetts senator has been noticeably silent about the collapse of the iRobot acquisition and the loss of the jobs even though she’s railed against Amazon for years.

“I have serious concerns about the Amazon-iRobot deal – dominant companies like Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to just buy their way out of competing,” Warren said in a 2022 statement. “The FTC should oppose this proposed merger to protect competition, lower consumer prices, and rein in Amazon’s well-documented anti-competitive activities.’

The Federal Trade Commission – which is now led by a Warren acolyte – did raise concerns about the deal and worked with the European Union, which eventually blocked the merger.

iRobot, which makes the popular Roomba vacuum cleaner, did not say where the job layoffs would be but the company is based in Massachusetts.

As a result of the collapse, iRobot head Robin Angle — a star in Massachusetts high-tech circles – announced he was stepping down. Angle said in a statement that he and the iRobot board decided “that iRobot will be better served by a new leader with turnaround experience.”

Amazon had to pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee for ending the deal to add the robotics company to its portfolio, which would have allowed them to sell iRobot products directly on its website.

Amazon is also a major employer in Massachusetts, with a robotics innovation facility in Westboro that opened in 2021.

Warren’s office did not respond to a Herald request for comment about the layoffs and the blow to iRobot, which is expected now to restructure, possibly triggering more layoffs.

The far-left Massachusetts Democrat has for years had Amazon and other big high-tech companies in her sights for their anti-competitive, anti-consumer behavior. Along with a phalanx of other liberal lawmakers, she sent a letter to the FTC urging them to kill the $1.65 billion iRobot acquisition in 2022.

But the loss of jobs? Not so much as a word out of Warren about that.

She puts policy and partisan politics over people.

Warren lives a millionaire lifestyle in her Cambridge house and has no idea how ordinary people struggle to get by. She does softball interviews with CNN and other friendly outlets and rarely exposes herself to hostile questions.