In addition to its investment in Sharp, Foxconn has also been looking to provide more services to its clients and its partnership with LeEco to acquire more content is expected to allow Foxconn to further expand into the LCD TV market.
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Vizio is based in Irvine, California, and is one of the leading brands in North America for smart TV and sound bar sales.
Under the deal, Vizio’s hardware and software businesses will be owned and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco, while Vizio’s data business, Inscape, will spin out and operate as a separate, privately owned company.
Chinese consumer electronics and general technology manufacturer LeEco took many by surprise after announcing its latest acquisition of VIZIO this week.
LeEco has yet to name a new chief executive for their newly acquired company but most media outlets want to know the reason why the Netflix of China buy it in the first place.
This news comes as Vizio CEO William Wang revealed his leave from the company he founded. The company is also creating original content for television in China. This way, they instantly get the company’s market share and can momentarily start incorporating the existing brand and its products into the aforementioned LeEco ecosystem. Vizio will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary, and its brand will remain.
Wang will transition to chairman and CEO of Inscape, with focus on the continued expansion and growth of the brand’s data business.
The VIZIO brand and its portfolio of products will continue to be sold through its existing distribution channels and supported by the same North American-based, award-winning customer service. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2016, and is subject to customary closing conditions.
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“Our strategy is to integrate our platform-including software and services-with devices”, Leeco’s global head of corporate finance and development Winston Cheng told Wired. It’s also now producing “The Great Wall”, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Matt Damon, with Legendary East and Universal Pictures. Previously TechPP had exclusively reported that LeEco (formerly known as LeTV) is contemplating the launch of their consumer electronics line consisting of LeEco Super TVs and VR headset in India by July.
