Shares of iRobot Corp. (IRBT), the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum, lost almost a third of their value Friday amid reports it and its acquirer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) are in thꦬe crosshai🍃rs of European Union (EU) antitrust regulators.

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday evening reported that European Commission officials had told Amazon representatives the deal was likely to be blocked, according to people familiar with the discussions. The commission has until Feb. 14 to make a final decision. 

It’s been a long and winding road for Amazon in its attempts to buy the Roomba maker. The companies fir🌟st announ﷽ced the deal in August 2022, when Amazon said it would pay $61 per share, or $1.7 billion.

Regulators in the U.S., U.K., and EU were quick to say they would look into the acquisition. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority investigated the deal before 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:approving it in June. Shortly after, Europ𝓡ean regulators opened up a formal i🦹nvestigation into whether the acquisition would allow Amazon to stifle competition in the robot vacuum market. 

Then, in late July, Amazon 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:lowered its offer to $51.75 per sha𝔉re, or $1.4 billion, after iRobot took on ℱnew debt. 

The deal was reportedly on track to get 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:unconditional approval from EU regulators in mid-November, news that sent iRobot’s shares skyrocketing. Those reports were proved inaccurate just days later when regulators sent Amazon 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:an official statement of objections, inviting the company to propose concessio🅘ns that would ensure it wouldn’t give preferential placement to iRobot products in its marketplace. 

The a൩cquisition has since appeared to be in peril. Amazon missed it✱s deadline to offer concessions last week, leading to speculation that the company could abandon the deal altogether.

iRobot shares plummeted early and traded almost 30% down at about💟 $17 at 12:22 p.m. ET Friday. Amazon shares were up slightly at $154 🉐after a brief decline earlier in the day.