Chinese tech giant LeEco announced in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Beijing time) that it had acquired America’s largest television (TV) manufacturer, Vizio, for USD two billion.
“Vizio is a subverter of the electronic age, and LeEco is a subverter of the internet age. The acquisition is a chemical reaction which will bring LeEco’s model to America,” said Jia Yueting, founder and CEO of LeEco at the press conference in L.A.
Jia said that he’d been pursuing Vizio for three years, and had been refused many times.
The acquisition price was higher than our earlier prediction. LeEco claimed it was the biggest acquisition in the worldwide TV industry .
Vizio is the largest American TV maker, which will act as LeEco’s independent subsidiary after the full buyout. LeEco will provide Vizio with its services including contents, internet and cloud services, and help Vizio become an internet company.
LeEco said that after the acquisition it would have over 28 million smart TVs on its platform, and 730 million monthly active users (MAU). TV is an important part of LeEco’s business. It claimed to have sold seven million Super TVs in the past three years.
The company also saw the acquisition as an important step in its global strategy: It has built its North American headquarters in Silicon Valley, is entering India, and has plans for Russia and Eastern Europe.
“Chinese internet companies will see great opportunities in the coming decade, to defeat American and European companies in the global range. The ecological internet model will also replace the specialization division and take the global economy into the ecological times,” said Jia.
(Top photo from dingkeji.com)
