Vizio Mum on Reports that Beijing-Based LeEco Making Bid to Buy Company
Vizio representatives were keeping silent Wednesday on chatter in the Chinese media that Beijing-based tech company Leshi Internet Information & Technology, also known as LeEco, and formerly called LeTV, is making perhaps a $1.5 billion bid to buy Vizio. Representatives of LeEco’s San Jose-based U.S. subsidiary also didn’t comment Wednesday.
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The sudden chatter about LeEco’s possible Vizio ambitions comes as Vizio approaches the first anniversary July 24 of having filed an S-1 registration statement at the SEC for its long-expected initial public offering to raise $172.5 million (see 1507260001). But except for filing three amended registration statements in the past year, Vizio has since been silent on its IPO plans. Meanwhile, information culled from Vizio's four SEC filings has been used as fodder for two dozen class-action complaints against the company alleging the Inscape viewer-tracking feature on Vizio smart TVs violates the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (see 1605020034).
Though overall industry TV shipment growth was stagnant in 2013 and 2014, Vizio racked up 13 percent TV unit sales increases in each of those years and recorded enviable profit numbers as a result, its S-1 filing said. Vizio cumulatively said it sold more than 17 million smart TVs through last Oct. 22, when its most recent S-1 amendment was filed. Vizio recorded net sales of $2.2 billion in the first nine months of 2015, its latest filing showed. That was a 6 percent increase from the same 2014 period, the filing said.
LeEco runs among its many businesses an internet streaming service and an e-commerce store called LeMall. It also has been a prolific supplier of smartphones. Its LeTV brand of smart TVs recently gained notoriety for becoming the first Chinese TV supplier to adopt Corning’s Iris glass-based light-guide plate technology for use in its ultra-thin 70-inch LCD TV called the Super TV Max 70 (see 1512230040). LeEco publicity materials tout the company as providing “breakthrough experiences through its open, integrated ecosystem of streaming content, platforms, and smart devices that fit perfectly into a broad spectrum of lifestyles.” LeEco sees itself “offering a jaw-dropping array of next-generation tech and content spanning smartphones, TVs, sports, film, live entertainment and connected mobility,” the materials say.