Formerly | V Inc. (2002–2004) |
---|---|
Company type | Public (sale to Walmart pending) |
| |
Industry | Electronics |
Founded | October 2002 , in Costa Mesa, California, U.S. |
Founders | William Wang |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | North America |
Key people | |
Products | OLED TV, 4K UHD TVs, LCD TVs, LED TVs, soundbars, home theater in a box, QLED TV, Platform+ |
Revenue | US$2.04 billion (2020 [5] ) |
Website | www |
Footnotes /references [6] |
Vizio Holding Corp. is an American publicly traded company that designs and sells televisions, sound bars, viewer data, and advertising. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Irvine, California. [7] In February 2024, it entered into an agreement to be acquired by Walmart, so Walmart can expand advertising sales in video content that streams for free on Vizio devices. [8]
The company was founded in 2002 as V Inc. by entrepreneur William Wang and two founding employees. [9] [10] By 2004, Wang changed the company name to Vizio. [11] [12]
In 2006, the company's revenue was estimated at $700 million, and in 2007 it was estimated to have exceeded $2 billion. [13] Vizio is known for selling its HDTVs at lower prices than its competitors. [7]
On October 19, 2010, Vizio signed a 4-year contract to sponsor U.S. college football's annual Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California, beginning with the 2011 Rose Bowl and ending with the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Game. [14] When the Rose Bowl contract ended, Vizio signed a contract to sponsor the Fiesta Bowl making the official name the Vizio Fiesta Bowl. [15]
In late 2014, Vizio acquired Advanced Media Research Group, Inc., the parent of entertainment website BuddyTV. [16]
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; [17] [18] however, the IPO was never completed. [19] [20]
In August 2015, Vizio acquired Cognitive Media Networks, Inc, a provider of automatic content recognition (ACR). [21] Cognitive Media Networks was subsequently renamed Inscape Data. [21] Inscape functioned as an independent entity until the end of 2020, when it was combined with Vizio Ads and SmartCast; the three divisions combining to operate as a single unit. [22]
In November 2015, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Office of the New Jersey Attorney General brought charges against Vizio, alleging it collected non-personal information on its customers and sold it to advertisers. [23] [24] In February 2017, Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle the charges. [25] [26] [27] [28] Additionally, the settlement required Vizio to delete the data it had captured and update its data collection practices. After the settlement, the company only collected data from TV units that opted in through disclosures. [29]
On July 26, 2016, Chinese electronics company LeEco announced that it would acquire Vizio for US$2 billion; [30] however, the acquisition was canceled in April 2017 after the Chinese government blocked the merger amid a larger government crackdown on major foreign acquisition by domestic Chinese firms. [31] [32] [33] In July 2017 Vizio sued LeEco claiming that it failed to pay $60 million of a $100 million breakup fee. The suit was later settled by the companies in November 2018 on undisclosed terms. [34]
From the year 2016 onwards, Vizio launched its SmartCast across all television sets including apps such as Netflix, YouTube and Disney+. [35]
In 2018, Vizio launched a free streaming service called WatchFree, powered by Pluto TV, on its SmartCast platform. [36] [37]
As of 2021, Vizio had 527 employees across the U.S. in states including California, [38] South Dakota, [39] Washington, [40] Arkansas, Minnesota, Texas, [41] and New York. [42] The company reported total revenue of $2.04 billion and net income of $102.5 million by the end of 2020. [43]
As of 2020, [update] Vizio was the second largest seller of flat-panel televisions in the US. [44] As of March 1,2021, [update] the company has sold over 11 million sound bars and 80 million TVs, [45] and has more than 12 million active SmartCast accounts. [46]
In March 2021, Vizio filed for an IPO. [47] [48] In the same month, Vizio was listed on the New York Stock Exchange [49] [50] under the symbol VZIO. [45]
In October 2021, Vizio was sued by the Software Freedom Conservancy for GPL violations. [51] On October 19, 2021, Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. because the company failed to fulfill the requirements of the GNU General Public License by failing to provide the source code. SFC stated in the lawsuit that Vizio was "not providing and technical information that copyleft licenses require, Vizio was not even informing its customers about copylefted software and the rights it gives them as consumers." [52] [53] On November 29, 2021, Vizio filed a request to remove the case into US federal court. [54] [55] On May 13, 2022, federal district court judge Josephine Staton sided with SFC and granted a motion to send the lawsuit back to Superior Court, to answer breach-of-contract claims. [56]
In February 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that major retailer Walmart had launched talks to acquire Vizio for $2.3 billion with the view to create a more potent rival to Amazon’s booming ad business. [57] Both Walmart and Sam's Club had long sold Vizio products. Announced that month, the acquisition would make the company part of Walmart's US segment in an effort to support the retailer's high-margin advertising business, Walmart Connect. A columnist for The Wall Street Journal suggested the move would put great pressure on a competitor in the space, Roku, citing sector analyst opinion. [58] [59] [60]
Vizio produces television sets and soundbars and has previously produced tablets, mobile phones and computers. Vizio manufactures its products in Mexico, China, and Vietnam under agreements with ODM assemblers in those countries. [61]
Television sets are Vizio's primary product category, and in 2007 the company became the largest LCD TV seller (by volume) in North America. [62] In February 2009, Vizio announced they would stop production of plasma televisions and would focus on the LED-backlit LCD displays . [63]
In March 2016, Vizio announced the release of SmartCast TVs that allowed users to control the screen from a tablet or mobile app. [64] [65] The following year, Vizio relaunched its smart TV platform to include apps directly on the screen, including Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. [66] [67] In 2018, Vizio released its first Quantum Dot LED 4K TV. [68] Vizio has added functionality for Google Assistant and Alexa-enabled devices, Apple Airplay2, Apple HomeKit [69] and gaming features for its SmartCast TVs. [67]
Vizio's sound bar products are named by series, including the V-Series, M-Series, and Elevate. Series names pair with suggested TV products. [77]
In 2013, Vizio released the Home Theater Sound Bar, a surround sound home audio system." [78] [79] In 2018, the company released its first Dolby Atmos soundbars. [80] In 2020, Vizio released the Elevate soundbar, the first Atmos soundbar with rotating speakers. [79] At CES 2020, Vizio earned the CES innovation award product designation for the Elevate sound bar. [81]
Vizio's audio collection includes entry and mid-level sound bars that include surround sound, as well as premium versions. [82]
SmartCast is the operating system/platform that Vizio uses in all their smart TVs. [88] It uses both Chromecast and Apple AirPlay. [89] [90] In June 2021 Vizio updated SmartCast with a Vizio voice feature. The platform allows access to a limited number of streaming apps like Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video. [91] [92]
Vizio has previously produced other products in addition to televisions and soundbars. In 2011, Vizio introduced the Via Tablet and Via Phone, its first tablet and mobile phone products. [93] The following year, Vizio began producing laptops, creating a lineup of PC computers that came in ultrabook and notebook models. [94] Also in 2012, Vizio introduced several HD Android smartphones in Asian markets, including China, [95] and began selling the "Vizio Co-Star," a Google TV digital media player. [96] In 2013, the company released the Vizio Tablet PC, its first Windows 8 tablet. [97] The company stopped producing tablets and computers in 2014. [98]
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. is a Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric Industrial to start his own business, acquiring some of its equipment to produce bicycle generator lamps. In 1950, the company was established. Sanyo began to diversify in the 1960s, launching Japan's first spray-type washing machine in 1953. In the 2000s, it was known as one of the 3S along with Sony and Sharp. Sanyo also focused on solar cell and lithium battery businesses. In 1992, it developed the world's first hybrid solar cell, and in 2002, it had a 41% share of the global lithium-ion battery market. In its heyday in 2003, Sanyo had sales of about ¥2.5 trillion. However, it fell into a financial crisis as a result of its huge investment in the semiconductor business. In 2009, Sanyo was acquired by Panasonic, and in 2011, it was fully consolidated into Panasonic and its brand disappeared. The company still exists as a legal entity for the purpose of winding up its affairs.
Roku, Inc. is a U.S. public company founded by Anthony Wood in 2002. It runs a streaming TV service through its branded streaming devices and smart TVs, supporting both advertising and subscription models on its platform. Roku leads U.S. streaming TV distribution, and reports over 80 million users globally as of 2023. Beyond the U.S., the company serves markets in Canada, Australia, the U.K., France, Germany, and several Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Fandango at Home is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand rentals and digital purchases of films, as well as integration with digital locker services for streaming digital copies of films purchased as home video at retail.
Xumo, LLC is an American internet television and consumer electronics company. It is a joint venture of Charter Communications and Comcast that operates the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) and advertising video on demand (AVOD) service Xumo Play, and distributes Xumo Stream Box digital media players and Xumo TV smart TVs. The Xumo Play platform's service operations are based in the Greater Los Angeles suburb of Irvine, California. As of October 2020, Xumo Play has 24 million monthly active users.
Xperi Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, that develops software for consumer electronics and connected cars, as well as media platforms for video service over broadband. The company is organized into four business units: Pay-TV, Consumer Electronics, Connected Car, and Media Platform. Xperi's brands include DTS, HD Radio, and TiVo.
A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features that allow users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a technological convergence of computers, televisions, and digital media players. Besides the traditional functions of television sets provided through traditional broadcasting media, these devices can provide access to over-the-top media services such as streaming television and internet radio, along with home networking access.
A soundbar, sound bar or media bar is a type of loudspeaker that projects audio from a wide enclosure. It is much wider than it is tall, partly for acoustic reasons, and partly so it can be mounted above or below a display device. In a soundbar, multiple speakers are placed in a single cabinet, which helps to create stereo sound and surround sound effect. A separate subwoofer is typically included with, or may be used to supplement, a soundbar.
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Toon Goggles is an American on-demand entertainment service for children that provides animated cartoons, live-action shows, games and music worldwide via the web and mobile applications on smartphones, OTT devices, smart TVs and tablets, led by CEO and co-founder Stephen Hodge.
Yahoo! Smart TV was a Smart TV platform developed by Yahoo! based upon the Yahoo! Desktop Widgets (Konfabulator) platform. Yahoo! Connected TV announced on August 20, 2008, at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco as the Widget Channel, it integrated the Yahoo! Widgets Engine with a new television oriented user interface to enable Internet connected applications to run and display on a 10-foot user interface. The platform was slowly being abandoned by its manufacturers, and was eventually deprecated. New apps that were based on Konfabulator stopped being added effective March 30, 2018, but existing apps can still be updated and installed, and HTML5 based apps are not affected by this.
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal nor vertical limitations. Following the release of Atmos for the cinema market, a variety of consumer technologies have been released under the Atmos brand, using in-ceiling and up-firing speakers.
Google Cast is a proprietary protocol developed by Google for playing Internet-streamed audiovisual content on a compatible consumer device. The protocol is used to initiate and control playback of content on digital media players, high-definition televisions, and home audio systems using a mobile device, personal computer, or smart speaker. The protocol was first launched on July 24, 2013, to support Google's first-generation Chromecast player. The Google Cast SDK was released on February 3, 2014, allowing third parties to modify their software to support the protocol. According to Google, over 20,000 Google Cast-ready apps were available as of May 2015. Support for Google Cast has since been integrated into subsequent devices, such as the Nexus Player and other Android TV devices, as well as soundbars, speakers, and later models of the Chromecast. Consumer devices that natively support the protocol are marketed as Chromecast built-in. As of October 2017, over 55 million Chromecasts and Chromecast built-in devices have been sold.
Element Electronics is a privately held American consumer electronics company in South Carolina.
Roku is a brand of smart TV operating systems, smart TVs, streaming devices, and smart home and audio products designed and marketed by Roku, Inc., headquartered in San Jose, California, United States. Roku's smart TV products primarily offer access to streaming media content, including streaming television, from online services.
Android TV is a smart TV operating system based on Android and developed by Google. It is available on television sets, soundbars, set-top boxes and digital media players. A successor to Google TV, it features a user interface designed around content discovery and voice search, content aggregation from various media apps and services, and integration with other recent Google technologies such as Assistant, Cast, and Knowledge Graph.
Automatic content recognition (ACR) is a technology used to identify content played on a media device or presented within a media file. Devices with ACR can allow for the collection of content consumption information automatically at the screen level itself, without any user-based input or search efforts. This information may be collected for purposes such as personalized advertising, content recommendations, sale to customer data aggregators and other applications.
The Apple TV app is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. It can stream content from the iTunes Store, the Apple TV Channels a la carte video on demand service, and the Apple TV+ original content subscription service. On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV devices it can also index and access content from linked apps of other video on demand services.
OnePlus TV is a brand of television manufactured by the Chinese consumer electronics company OnePlus. The OnePlus TV division is headed by the company CEO Pete Lau and TV Product Manager Todd Wang.
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