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iRobot named Gary Cohen its new CEO this week. | Credit score: iRobot
iRobot has discovered its new chief who will attempt to rejuvenate the buyer 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 will likely be accountable for overseeing all features 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 improve 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 international staff of 5,000 workers.
Earlier in his profession, he held management roles at Energizer, Playtex and Gillette. Cohen was a part of a turnaround staff 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 international gross sales from $1 billion to $1.8 billion and launching the Mach3, one of many firm’s largest international razor introductions.
“I’m actually honored to be becoming a member of iRobot, an organization with an iconic model, a legacy of innovation, and a dedication to delighting prospects around the globe,” stated Cohen. “I look ahead to working with the board, the management staff, 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, stated iRobot has already made “vital progress” within the restructuring of its enterprise.
“Gary’s management qualities and areas of experience, together with business development, product innovation, brand-building, international distribution, and operational efficiencies, are a powerful match to deal with the alternatives that lay forward for iRobot. His confirmed observe report of efficiently main international client companies via difficult occasions provides us even better confidence that he’s the correct particular person to steer the corporate on its path towards returning to worthwhile development.”
Becoming a member of iRobot throughout difficult occasions
After all, 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 skilled roboticist.
iRobot labored on quite a lot of robots earlier than launching its Roomba robotic vacuum in 2002. It has gone on to promote greater than 50 million robots worldwide. But it surely struggled to diversify its client robotics portfolio, shelving a robotic garden mower it had been engaged on for practically twenty 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. Nonetheless, 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 stated its preliminary view was that the acquisition might prohibit competitors. It stated there have been issues round Amazon’s skill to throttle iRobots’ competitors in its on-line market.
Because of the terminated deal, iRobot laid off 350-plus individuals (one-third of its employees) and Angle stepped down. On the time, iRobot introduced a variety 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 growth, and gross sales and advertising, 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 internet revenue per share of $0.30 in contrast with GAAP internet loss per share of ($2.95) in Q1 of 2023. iRobot stated the non-GAAP internet loss per share was ($1.53) in contrast with non-GAAP internet loss per share of ($1.67) in Q1 of 2023.
iRobot additionally reported constructive money circulate from operations of $1.4 million, however this was helped by one-time internet proceeds of the $75 million Amazon needed to pay iRobot to terminate the acquisition.
iRobot additionally lately launched lower-cost cleansing robots. It stated the brand new Roomba Combo Important robotic and Roomba Vac Important robotic are its “first merchandise to learn from iRobot’s new product growth paradigm with its contract producers.” The robots begin at $250.
“We exceeded our monetary expectations for the primary quarter as our staff executed on our restructuring plan to considerably enhance iRobot’s near-term operations,” stated 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 setting with out sacrificing longer-term development 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.”