You’d be forgiven if you’re not super familiar with LeEco. The company, until fairly recently known as LeTV, isn’t exactly a household name here in the States. In its native China, however, the company is a multi-disciplined powerhouse. It has a massive video streaming service, makes TVs, smartphones and even has a car in the works.
And it’s about to get even bigger. Today the company announced its plans to buy Vizio for $2 billion. According to the plan, the California-based budget TV manufacturer’s hardware and software wing will become a subsidiary of LeEco, with Inscape, its data business spinning out on its own.
According to Vizio, the company’s executive team will remain intact and operations will stay put in Irvine, with North American sales channels remaining the same, as well. Vizio founder and CEO William Wang will head up Inscape.
The exec reflected on the sale of the company he founded 14 years ago, adding that the deal will bolster the company’s global reach. “I’m excited to see how LeEco’s global reach and resources will elevate Vizio as we continue to bring great technology, innovation and value to our consumers,” he said in a prepared statement.
The planned acquisition appears, in part, to be an aspect of LeEco’s larger push into the US market. While the company doesn’t have a specific timeline for bringing its hardware offerings stateside, the company’s CEO, Jia Yueting (who founded the company in 2004) told CNBC that such a move is, hopefully, “not too far away.”
If the acquisition goes through as planned, it will surely be a major step in that direction.