Shares of iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) fell 14.2% on Thursday as investors speculated over the implications of an upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Amazon‘s (NASDAQ: AMZN) pending acquisition of the home-robotics specialist. After the regular session closed, however, iRobot stock plummeted another 40% in after-hours trading following a separate report that European regulators are planning to block the deal.
Amazon’s bluff seems to have backfired
Recall that iRobot stock also fell last week amid reports that Amazon had opted not to offer concessions to European Union (E.U.) antitrust regulators as it works to clear its impending purchase of the Roomba maker. The move sparked speculation over whether Amazon was content to allow the acquisition to fail or it was instead calling E.U. regulators’ bluffs, given prior reports that the deal was previously set to win…