In a deal that shakes up the TV market, China-based consumer tech giant LeEco has inked a $2 billion deal to acquire Vizio.
Per the deal, Vizio’s hardware and software will be owned and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco, while Vizio’s data business, Inscape, will be spun out as a separate, privately owned company.
They said the Vizio exec team will remain in place and continue its operations as an independent subsidiary from its existing headquarters in Irvine, Calif. William Wang, founder, chairman and CEO of Vizio, will become chairman and CEO of Inscape.
The deal catapults LeEco into the U.S. market. LeEco, which has its own Netflix-like video streaming service, is poised to take over a major U.S. TV player. Vizio, founded in 2002, held 29.1% of the smart TV market in North America, behind Samsung’s leading 37.4%, the Wall Street Journal said, citing IHS Markit data.
