Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to
acquire Oculus VR, a virtual reality technology company, for a total of
approximately $2 billion. This includes $400 million in cash and 23.1
million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on
the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21,
2014 of $69.35 per share). The agreement also provides for an
additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the
achievement of certain milestones.
Oculus is the leader in
immersive virtual reality technology and has already built strong
interest among developers, having received more than 75,000 orders for
development kits for the company's virtual reality headset, the Oculus
Rift. While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond
gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already
experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus'
existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications,
media and entertainment, education and other areas. Given these broad
potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate
to emerge as the next social and communications platform.
"Mobile
is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the
platforms of tomorrow," said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
"Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and
change the way we work, play and communicate."
"We are excited to
work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual
reality platform in the world," said Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO
of Oculus VR. "We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by
social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a
transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to
experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning."
Oculus
will maintain its headquarters in Irvine, CA, and will continue
development of the Oculus Rift, its ground-breaking virtual reality
platform.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.
Here is Mark Zuckerberg's full statement on the acquisition:
-----
I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.
Our
mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few
years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share
with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but
at this point we feel we're in a position where we can start focusing on
what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining
and personal experiences.
This is where Oculus comes in. They
build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you
put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated
environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The
incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you're
actually present in another place with other people. People who try it
say it's different from anything they've ever experienced in their
lives.
Oculus's mission is to enable you to experience the
impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new
kinds of experiences.
Immersive gaming will be the first, and
Oculus already has big plans here that won't be changing and we hope to
accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and
there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform.
We're going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and
develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue
operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.
But this
is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform
for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a
game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the
world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on
goggles in your home.
This is really a new communication
platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and
experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just
moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.
These
are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and
partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day,
we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part
of daily life for billions of people.
Virtual reality was once
the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream,
and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a
chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the
whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock
new worlds for all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment