iRobot Files For Bankruptcy: What It Means For Roomba Owners

The writing has long been on the wall, but finally, the maker of the synonymous Roomba vacuum, iRobot Corporation, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a "strategic transaction" intended to secure the company’s long-term future. Let's find out what that also means for both future customers and current owners.

The filing, initiated in Delaware, is part of a pre-packaged restructuring plan that would see the company acquired by its primary contract manufacturer and secured lender, Picea Robotics. The agreement is designed to deleverage iRobot’s balance sheet (with some estimating debt at $480 million), providing financial stability and the capital needed to pursue its product development roadmap.

This Chapter 11 petition comes less than a year after the collapse of Amazon’s planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot. That likely business-saving deal fell apart earlier in the year following strong resistance from European regulators who threatened ...