①American robotic vacuum cleaner iRobot, the pioneer of the industry, announced that it has entered bankruptcy reorganization proceedings. Its main creditor and core contract manufacturer, Sugikawa Robotics , will acquire 100% of the equity in the reorganized company. The announcement stated that ordinary shareholders will not acquire equity in the reorganized company. Just two weeks ago, after iRobot announced that it might enter bankruptcy proceedings, it was once hyped as a " robot concept stock".
Over the past two weeks, it has been regarded as a " robot concept" iRobot, the American pioneer of robotic vacuum cleaners that has been the subject of much speculation in the stock market, announced last Sunday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection. The company also announced a restructuring agreement to delist and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Chinese contract manufacturer.
As a result, iRobot shares plunged 82% in pre-market trading as of press time . The company anticipates that if the bankruptcy proceedings are approved, its common stockholders will not receive equity in the restructured company .
(Source: TradingView)
The pioneer of robotic vacuum cleaners is going bankrupt.
In its announcement, iRobot stated that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. court in Delaware and has signed a restructuring support agreement with its major creditor and major supplier, Picea (Shenzhen Shanchuan Robotics and Hong Kong Shanchuan, hereinafter collectively referred to as Shanchuan), under which Shanchuan will acquire iRobot through court-supervised proceedings. The company expects to complete the bankruptcy proceedings by February 2026.
The announcement further stated that, according to the terms of the restructuring support agreement, Sugikawa will acquire 100% of the company's equity , and iRobot will also be delisted from Nasdaq. The company will be delisted from the stock exchange. The company also anticipates that if the court approves the bankruptcy reorganization plan, its common stockholders will not receive any equity in the reorganized company, all issued and outstanding interests will be cancelled, and common stockholders will suffer total loss and be unable to recover their investment .
iRobot was founded in 1990 by the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at MIT. Rodney Brooke , Founding Director of the Laboratory (CSAIL) He co-founded the company with two students. In 2002, the company launched the phenomenal Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, which at its peak held more than 80% of the global market share.
In 2022, tech giant Amazon Carlyle Group had agreed to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion, but the deal fell through due to opposition from European regulators. During this period, iRobot's revenue continued to decline from 2021 onwards, impacted by supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly fierce market competition. It provided a $200 million "lifeline" in 2023, but it ultimately proved ineffective.
There had been prior warnings.
The end of iRobot was foreshadowed.
In its 8K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 1, iRobot disclosed that Hong Kong-based Sugikawa acquired a $190.7 million outstanding loan provided to the company by Carlyle Group in July 2023. The company also disclosed that as of November 24, it owed Sugikawa $161.5 million for product manufacturing, of which $90.9 million was overdue .
At the time, iRobot warned that the company was unlikely to make any deals outside of the bankruptcy proceedings, in which existing shareholders could lose all their investments.
(Source: Announcement of listed company on December 1)
Even after that announcement, stimulated by news that "the Trump administration intends to promote the development of robotics technology," iRobot's stock price surged 73% on December 3, and its cumulative increase this month reached 173% before the bankruptcy announcement over the weekend.
(Article source: CLS)
