Left to right: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Chinese President Xi Jingping and former Biden FTC Chair Lina Khan. (Cheryl Senter/AP Photo; Ton Molina/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Massachusetts senator said, "I have serious concerns about the Amazon-iRobot deal – dominant companies like Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to just buy their way out of competing."
"The FTC should oppose this proposed merger to protect competition, lower consumer prices, and rein in Amazon’s well-documented anticompetitive activities," said Warren.
The FTC under Khan, who served as a top advisor to New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani's transition team, also opposed the deal.
At the time, the FTC released a statement after the Amazon-iRobot merger fell through in which it said, "We are pleased that Amazon and iRobot have abandoned their proposed transaction."
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Members of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy march during the rehearsal ahead of a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
"iRobot collapsed into bankruptcy and now Beijing-linked buyers are snapping up its assets, including sensitive home-mapping data. That’s the end result of their so-called 'consumer protection,’" he went on.
"In the end, American and European regulators played the role of useful idiots, handing China more access and leverage, and adding to a growing espionage foothold inside American homes," he said. "Now it’ll be even harder for American families to avoid CCP spy devices."
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Amazon Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer David Zapolsky commented that "this is an unfortunate textbook example of regulators -- in this case the European Commission and the FTC -- losing the forest for the trees, resulting in the loss of an innovative American company, American jobs, and American IP."
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"When mergers are deterred, it can have long-lasting negative effects on companies and workers," said Zapolsky, adding, "These are the very things regulators say they are trying to protect, but when the processes become overburdensome and disproportionate, companies, workers, and consumers lose out."
In another statement, iRobot co-founder Colin Angle, who stepped down from company leadership in 2024, lamented its filing for bankruptcy, saying, "Innovation doesn’t fail only when ideas are wrong—it can fail when the path to scale is removed."
"When companies that create categories are denied viable ways to grow, everyone pays the price: consumers, employees, and the broader innovation economy," said Angle.
Fox News Digital reached out to Warren, Khan and iRobot for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mamdani-adviser-warren-hot-seat-collapse-roomba-maker-shifts-data-china