iRobot’s new CEO on cleanup responsibility after Amazon deal fails

Take heed to this text

iRobot named Gary Cohen its new CEO this week. | Credit score: iRobot

iRobot has discovered its new chief who will attempt to rejuvenate the patron robotics pioneer following Amazon’s failed $1.7 billion acquisition deal. Gary Cohen, who has 25-plus years of govt management and turnaround expertise, yesterday was named CEO. He shall be chargeable for overseeing all elements of iRobot, together with innovation, product and business methods, operational excellence, expertise, and sustaining a sustainable aggressive benefit.

Within the announcement, iRobot factors out that Cohen has a historical past of main profitable turnarounds. He most lately did in order CEO and board director at Qualitor Automotive, the place he helped enhance gross sales and earnings by roughly 100%. Previous to Qualitor Automotive, Cohen was as CEO at Timex, the place he led an $800 million multi-brand enterprise and world workforce of 5,000 workers.

Earlier in his profession, he held management roles at Energizer, Playtex and Gillette. Cohen was a part of a turnaround workforce that led the sale of Playtex to Energizer for $1.16 billion in 2007. At Gillette, he performed an integral position in new product innovation and promoting, rising Oral-B world gross sales from $1 billion to $1.8 billion and launching the Mach3, one of many firm’s largest world razor introductions.

“I’m really honored to be becoming a member of iRobot, an organization with an iconic model, a legacy of innovation, and a dedication to delighting prospects all over the world,” mentioned Cohen. “I look ahead to working with the board, the management workforce, and our workers throughout the corporate to reinvigorate the class, create worth, carry new merchandise to market, and proceed constructing the way forward for client robotics.”

Andrew Miller, chairman of iRobot’s board of administrators, mentioned iRobot has already made “vital progress” within the restructuring of its enterprise.

“Gary’s management qualities and areas of experience, together with business progress, product innovation, brand-building, world distribution, and operational efficiencies, are a powerful match to handle the alternatives that lay forward for iRobot. His confirmed monitor file of efficiently main world client companies by means of difficult occasions provides us even better confidence that he’s the best particular person to steer the corporate on its path towards returning to worthwhile progress.”

Becoming a member of iRobot throughout difficult occasions

In fact, Cohen takes over for longtime CEO Colin Angle, who held the place since 2007. He based iRobot with fellow MIT roboticists Rodney Brooks and Helen Greiner in 1990. Notably, Cohen is a businessman and never a educated roboticist.

iRobot labored on a wide range of robots earlier than launching its Roomba robotic vacuum in 2002. It has gone on to promote greater than 50 million robots worldwide. However it struggled to diversify its client robotics portfolio, shelving a robotic garden mower it had been engaged on for practically 20 years, and noticed its stronghold on the robotic vacuum market shrink lately attributable to elevated competitors, geopolitical challenges, and different points.

It introduced in August 2022 that it entered a deal to be acquired by Amazon for $1.7 billion in money. Nevertheless, in early 2024 the deal was terminated by each Amazon and iRobot because it was going to be blocked by the European Union, which has lately clamped down on M&Because it deems to be anti-competitive.

In November 2023, the European Union mentioned its preliminary view was that the acquisition might limit competitors. It mentioned there have been issues round Amazon’s capability to throttle iRobots’ competitors in its on-line market. 

On account of the terminated deal, iRobot laid off 350-plus individuals (one-third of its workers) and Angle stepped down. On the time, iRobot introduced plenty of strikes to “extra intently align its price construction with near-term income expectations and drive profitability.” This included restructuring its provide chain, analysis and improvement, and gross sales and advertising and marketing, in addition to shedding extra staffers and abandoning work on robotic garden mowing, amongst different issues.

Q1 2024 outcomes

iRobot additionally introduced its first quarter monetary outcomes this week. It reported income of $150 million, in comparison with $160.3 million within the first quarter of 2023 and GAAP web earnings per share of $0.30 in contrast with GAAP web loss per share of ($2.95) in Q1 of 2023. iRobot mentioned the non-GAAP web loss per share was ($1.53) in contrast with non-GAAP web loss per share of ($1.67) in Q1 of 2023.

iRobot additionally reported optimistic money movement from operations of $1.4 million, however this was helped by one-time web proceeds of the $75 million Amazon needed to pay iRobot to terminate the acquisition.

iRobot additionally lately launched lower-cost cleansing robots. It mentioned the brand new Roomba Combo Important robotic and Roomba Vac Important robotic are its “first merchandise to learn from iRobot’s new product improvement paradigm with its contract producers.” The robots begin at $250.

“We exceeded our monetary expectations for the primary quarter as our workforce executed on our restructuring plan to considerably enhance iRobot’s near-term operations,” mentioned Glen Weinstein, who served as iRobot’s interim CEO till Cohen’s appointment. “Our plan is designed to stabilize the enterprise within the present market atmosphere with out sacrificing longer-term progress initiatives. Within the first quarter, we took aggressive actions to simplify our price construction, implement a extra sustainable enterprise mannequin and concentrate on our core worth drivers.”