Categories
Close
Menu
Menu
Close
Search
Search

Featured Articles

News

Facebook moves into virtual reality with $2 billion Oculus VR deal

Mark

Share:

Print

Rate article:

No rating
Rate this article:
No rating

Facebook has agreed to acquire virtual reality company Oculus VR in a deal worth approximately $2 billion (£1.2 billion).

Oculus VR has become well-known for its ‘immersive’ virtual reality technology, having received more than 75,000 development kit orders for its Oculus Rift 3D virtual reality headset.

The deal includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock, with the option of an extra $300 million in cash and stock based on future targets. It’s expected to be finalised in the summer.

Although Oculus has been focussed on gaming, Facebook says it plans to move the company into communications, media, entertainment, education and other areas - with virtual reality technology described as “a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform”.

Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR, said “We are excited to work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world. 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 a separate headquarters building in California and will continue its development of the Oculus Rift.

[Oculus blog]

Comments

Collapse Expand Comments (0)
You don't have permission to post comments.

Opinion Articles

ExclusiveThis week at The Fonecast: 3rd April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to this week's news summary from TheFonecast.com.

In Wednesday's podcast Iain joked that we ought to have a regular Olympics news story because everyone else was talking about the event constantly. Well, following the headlines about introducing WiFi to tube stations in time for London 2012 comes another Olympic news story.

ExclusiveThis week at The Fonecast: 26th March 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

There was big news from the United States this week as Deutsche Telekom decided to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T. Was it a shotgun wedding or is this a carefully calculated deal designed to benefit consumers?  Time will tell – assuming, of course, the merger gets approved by the US regulator.

ExclusiveBT increases fixed-line charges as Mobile Termination Rates fall

Mark Bridge writes:

The Terminate The Rate campaign has pretty much run its course. Its aim was to get Mobile Termination Rates reduced. These are the wholesale charges paid when a mobile or fixed-line network connects a call from one of its customers to a rival. Lower MTRs would mean better deals on call charges, the campaign argued.

ExclusiveLondon Olympics mobile phone ban is nothing to be exercised about

Mark Bridge writes:

"It's political correctness gone mad, innit?"  The terms and conditions for booking tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games include a warning that certain items are banned. Food, flasks of drink, umbrellas, musical instruments and mobile phones are all on the prohibited list.

RSS
First7778798082848586Last

Recent Podcasts

ExclusivePodcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

ExclusiveLooking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

ExclusiveA month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

RSS
12345678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Archive Calendar

«June 2026»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
25262728293031
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293012345

Archive