> Just a few years ago, iRobot, best known as the maker of the Roomba, was riding high, with annual revenue topping $1 billion; Amazon bid $1.7 billion to add it to the e-commerce giant’s home technology business. But that deal fell through, and now the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company has reported plunging revenue and steep losses, and recently warned investors of “substantial doubt” about its “ability to continue as a going concern.” With its share price down drastically, it’s now worth about $100 billion. How did the creator of the iconic round robot vacuum—which has sold more than 50 million units—get into this mess?<p>I cannot comprehend these valuations, US$1 billion is a lot of revenue but just because it's an appliance with a bit of technology/software in the products it pushes to P/E > 100, and a P/E of 100 is seen as a "low"? For an appliances company?<p>The financial markets are extremely broken, anything that peddles being "tech of <placeholder>" becomes an absurdity. A P/E of 30-40 for an appliances maker would be very, very good.