{"id":448218,"date":"2025-12-15T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448218\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T08:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:08:18","slug":"irobot-files-for-bankruptcy-the-verge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448218\/","title":{"rendered":"iRobot files for bankruptcy | The Verge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">After 35 years, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum filed for bankruptcy protection late Sunday night. Following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/817536\/irobots-revenue-has-tanked-and-its-almost-out-of-cash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warnings issued<\/a> earlier this year that it was fast running out of options, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/irobot-announces-strategic-transaction-to-drive-long-term-growth-plan-302641744.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iRobot says<\/a> it is entering Chapter 11 protection and will be acquired by its contract manufacturer, the Chinese-based Picea Robotics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">The company says it will continue to operate \u201cwith no anticipated disruption to its app functionality, customer programs, global partners, supply chain relationships, or ongoing product support.\u201d This should mean that, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/817536\/irobots-revenue-has-tanked-and-its-almost-out-of-cash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">at least for now<\/a>, your Roomba will continue cleaning your floors just as it did before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">The Massachusetts-based company has struggled for years amid increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers. One of the early pioneers in household robotics, iRobot was founded in 1990 and launched its first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Over two decades later, while iRobot is the Kleenex of the robot vacuum space, its market share has eroded significantly to companies like Ecovacs and Roborock. An acquisition by Amazon in 2022 looked set to reverse the company\u2019s declining fortunes, but the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/1\/29\/24034201\/amazon-irobot-acquisition-over-antitrust-regulator-scrutiny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">deal fell apart<\/a> under regulatory scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Since then, iRobot has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/627751\/irobot-launches-eight-new-roombas-with-lidar-room-mapping\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reinvented its product line<\/a> and cut prices to better compete with rivals, working with Picea Robotics to develop new Roombas. But it has continued to see revenue decline. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/irobot-enters-chapter-11-lender-acquire-roomba-maker-2025-12-15\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reuters reports<\/a> that US tariffs hit the company hard, especially the 46 percent in Vietnam, where it makes robot vacuums for the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">\u201cToday\u2019s announcement marks a pivotal milestone in securing iRobot\u2019s long-term future,\u201d said Gary Cohen, Chief Executive Officer at iRobot. \u201cThe transaction will strengthen our financial position and will help deliver continuity for our consumers, customers, and partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 35 years, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum filed for bankruptcy protection late Sunday night. Following&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":448219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,50,104421,10170,242,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-448218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-robot","11":"tag-smart-home","12":"tag-tech","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115722564854250822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}