Amazon boss Andy Jassy has criticized competition regulators in Brussels and Washington for torpedoing his company's purchase of robot vacuum cleaner pioneer iRobot.
Jassy pointed out on Thursday that iRobot was struggling to keep up with Chinese rivals after the deal was cancelled. He also raised concerns about data security, because modern vacuum-cleaner robots create a 3D scan of the home.
"Really, what Western regulators were saying is that they trust these two large Chinese companies with maps of the inside of US consumers' homes more than they do Amazon," Jassy complained in an interview with US broadcaster CNBC.
The big question now is whether iRobot will survive in the long term, he said.
Amazon wanted to expand its role in smart home appliances with the purchase of the industry pioneer. iRobot is best known for its self-propelled vacuum cleaners under the brand name Roomba.
However, the European Commission saw a risk that Amazon could hinder iRobot's rivals on its sales platform. Jassy rejected the concerns on Thursday: "Of course it's not our model," Jassy said, "because we make at least as much money selling third party items as our own."
The Amazon boss confirmed earlier media reports that, following the setback in Europe, the US competition authorities had also announced their opposition to the takeover.
After Amazon finally cancelled its purchase plans in January, iRobot laid off 350 employees, almost a third of its workforce. Overall, it was a "sad story," said Jassy.
The criticism was triggered by the question of whether Amazon would take a controlling stake in an AI company such as chatbot developer Anthropic, despite potential concerns from competition authorities.
Anthropic developed the chatbot Claude, which competes with the well-known ChatGPT software from start-up OpenAI. Amazon is a billion-dollar investor in Anthropic - similar to Microsoft's pact with OpenAI.
Jassy criticized that, given the position of the competition authorities, it is currently not clear what is allowed. Some authorities were going beyond their legal powers, he said, without naming them.
