Vizio

Not to be confused with Microsoft Visio.
Vizio Inc.
Subsidiary
Industry Consumer electronics
Founded October 2002 (2002-10) (as V Inc.)
Costa Mesa, California, U.S.
Founder William Wang
Headquarters Irvine, California, U.S.
Key people
 William Wang (CEO)
Matthew McRae (CTO)
Products AV electronics; LCD TVs, surround sound systems, HDTV accessories, LCD computer monitors, Laptops, all-in-one personal computers, telecommunications
Revenue $3.1 billion (2014)[1]
Parent LeEco
Website www.vizio.com

Vizio Inc. is an American privately held company that develops consumer electronics. Headquartered in Irvine, California, United States, the company was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. and is best known as a producer of affordable flat-screen televisions.[2] In July 2016, Vizio announced that it would be acquired by Chinese technology company LeEco.

History

The company was founded in 2002 as V Inc. by William Wang (Chinese: 王蔚; pinyin: Wáng Wèi), Laynie Newsome, and Ken Lowe with $600,000 and three employees. In 2006 the revenue was estimated around $700 million, and in 2007 it was estimated to have exceeded $2 billion. Vizio is known for aggressively pricing their HDTVs against major competitors.[2]

On October 19, 2010, Vizio signed a 4-year contract to sponsor college football's annual Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California, beginning with the 2011 Rose Bowl presented by Vizio and ending with the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Game.[3] When the Rose Bowl contract ended, Vizio signed a contract to sponsor the Fiesta Bowl making the official name the Vizio Fiesta Bowl.

As of 2012, Vizio had over 400 employees.[4] About half work at its headquarters in Irvine, California, in engineering, design, sales, and operations, while the other half are employed at a call center in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.[4][5]

Vizio also manufactures its products in Mexico and China under agreements with ODM assemblers in those countries.[6]

On July 24, 2015, Vizio filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $172.5 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and Citigroup are among the underwriters of the IPO, Vizio told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus. The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. The company has applied to list its Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “VZIO.”[7]

On August 10, 2015, Vizio acquired Cognitive Media Networks, Inc, a market leading provider of automatic content recognition (ACR).[8] The Cognitive Network business was subsequently renamed Inscape Data Services.[9]

On December 31, 2014, Vizio acquired Advanced Media Research Group, Inc., the parent of entertainment website BuddyTV, in order to expand content and service offerings from Vizio's Smart TV platform.[10]

On July 26, 2016, Vizio CEO William Wang announced that Chinese technology company LeEco was acquiring Vizio in a US$2 billion deal, with plans to run the company as a wholly owned subsidiary. Inscape will be spin off and operate as a separate, privately owned company led by Wang.[11]

Products

Television sets

Television sets are Vizio's primary product category, and in 2007 the manufacturer became the largest LCD TV seller (by volume) in North America with 606,402 TVs sold, a 76% jump from the previous quarter while its market share increased from 9.4% to 14.5%.[12] In September 2008, Vizio started selling LCD TVs to Costco in Japan. In February 2009, Vizio announced they would stop production of plasma televisions and would focus on the LED-backlit LCD displays instead.[13]

Vizio unveiled a new range of televisions including Vizio's M line with 65-inch screens; ultra-wide televisions with 50-, 58-, and 71-inch screen sizes; two all-in-one desktop computers (24-inch and 27-inch); three notebooks (one 14-inch and two 15-inch); and a 10-inch tablet at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show.[14][15]

Vizio "Smart TV" sets track viewers' habits and share them with advertisers, a practice that cable TV companies are prohibited from doing but that Vizio says is legal for TV manufacturers.[16]

Vizio also produces other audio/video equipment such as High Definition Surround Sound systems, LCD monitors and HDTV accessories. The company released its first Blu-ray Disc player in August 2009.[17] In 2011 Vizio extended its portfolio of electronics devices to mobile phones, with the name Via Phone, and tablets, named Via Tablet. The new phones and tablets were shown at 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.[18] See specifics below.

Tablets

Ultrabook

In 2012 Vizio introduced its 14-inch ultrabook Vizio CT14 with the third generation Intel Core i7 processors and 128 GB SSD.[21] On October 2012 Vizio updated this series with a new Windows 8 OS. This change was also applied to the Vizio notebook series.

Mobile phones

Vizio also introduced several new full 1080p HD Android smartphones in the Asian markets, but particularly China.[22] The devices feature high-end specs, with the 5-inch VP800 featuring 2 GB RAM, Full HD Display, and 8MP camera. The more budget-oriented VP600 features a dual-core processor, 4.7-inch 720p HD display, and Android Jelly Bean OS.[23] Vizio announced these developments in a press release; however, past media releases show that this is not Vizio's first product in the mobile telephony sector.[24]

Google TV

The company introduced the "VIZIO Co-Star" a Google TV digital media player, in 2012.[25]

Sound bars

A Vizio sound bar (model: S3821w) was recommended by Consumer Reports as its "Best Buy" (based on a combination of quality and price) in a comparison of competing sound bars dated January 2014.[26]

References

  1. ↑ On Marketing. "VIZIO on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List". Forbes.
  2. 1 2 Lawton, Christopher, Iwatani Kane, Yukari and Dean, Jason."U.S. Upstart Takes On TV Giants in Price War", The Wall Street Journal, 2008-04-15. Retrieved on April 15, 2008.
  3. ↑ Chris Casacchia (2010-10-19). "Vizio Nabs Four-Year Rose Bowl Presenting Sponsorship". Orange County Business Journal.
  4. 1 2 Nilay Patel (2012-06-15). "Vizio reboots the PC: a quiet American success story takes on sleeping giants". The Verge. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  5. ↑ Dave Dreeszen (2010-02-24). "Vizio Direct leaves North Sioux for the Dunes". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  6. ↑ WSJ Staff. "Vizio CEO Predicts Declining TV Prices, Possible IPO". WSJ.
  7. ↑ "EDGAR Search Results".
  8. ↑ "Cognitive Networks - Portfolio - DCM".
  9. ↑ "Inscape Data Services Vizio".
  10. ↑ "VIZIO Holdings, Inc. Class A Common Stock prospectus". Visio. 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  11. ↑ "Vizio Being Sold To LeEco". 26 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Vizio tops in LCD TV sales in second quarter". CNET.
  13. ↑ "Another Manufacturer Drops Plasma". The New York Times.
  14. ↑ Andrew Tarantola. "Vizio Plans to Beat PC's "Sleepy Giants" at Their Own Game". Gizmodo. Gawker Media.
  15. ↑ Jesus Diaz. "The New Vizio PCs and Notebooks Are Worthy of Apple". Gizmodo. Gawker Media.
  16. ↑ "Own a Vizio Smart TV? It's watching you". Business Insider. 15 November 2015.
  17. ↑ Vizio's VBR100 Blu-ray player delayed until August
  18. ↑ Yukari Iwatani Kane (2 January 2011). "Vizio to Introduce Tablet, Cellphone - WSJ". WSJ.
  19. ↑ "Vizio Tablet VTAB1008 Review: A Pleasant Surprise at a Value Price". PCWorld. 24 September 2011.
  20. ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/06/vizio-tablet-pc-windows-8-tablet/ Vizio debuts its first Windows 8 tablet
  21. ↑ Vizio Ultrabook
  22. ↑ "Vizio shows off new HD smartphones for China". Phone Arena.
  23. ↑ Simon Hill (7 January 2013). "Vizio unveils two HD Android smartphones - but only for China - Digital Trends". Digital Trends.
  24. ↑ "News and Press - VIZIO Unveils New Smartphone and Tablet Featuring VIA Plus for Even More Entertainment Freedom - VIZIO".
  25. ↑ Bishop, Bryan. "Vizio introduces Google TV-powered VAP430 media streamer". The Verge. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  26. ↑ Consumer Reports webpage.

External links

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