China(*) buys Vizio for 1/2 Starwars (2 billion with a B)

[lupi]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/27/tec...index.html?iid=ob_homepage_showcase_pool-test

Didn't realize Vizio was a US company, yet another US group bought out by the new motherland. Guess that's one way to bring the greenbacks home.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, Vizio (was) the only US-based manufacturer of maintstream HD TVs (I think they've only ever made LCD-based panels--never plasma?)

sucks. They were also turning things around recently and their last 2 product lines have been getting really solid reviews. Previously they were considered somewhat lackluster compared to Samsung/LG/Panasonic/Sony.

 

[JSt0rm]

kinda weird we allow a communist country to buy american companies.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Too bad, Vizio was the last really good budget TV now that plasmas are dead.

OLED technology can't get cheap enough fast enough.

 

[ElFenix]

vizio did make plasmas at one point. i remember reading a review of their 32" plasma.

Guess that's one way to bring the greenbacks home.

china pretty much has to buy US assets with all the dollars we send them every month. that can be tbills, that can be real estate, that can be companies. they could buy beanie babies if they wanted. it's just the other side of the current account deficit.

 

[pauldun170]

From what I understood, Vizio doesn't actually manufacturer anything. They contracted the work out to various Asian manufacturers.

 

[spacejamz]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizio

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 has 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 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.[8]

On July 26, 2016 it was 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.[9]

 

[dullard]

kinda weird we allow a communist country to buy american companies.

China hasn't been economically communist since the mid 1970s. They are much more a socialist/capitalist mix in that regard.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I know the plasma panel in my old Vizio 50" was made by LG. In fact, the same exact plasma panel was in an LG model that a good friend has. Vizio did a lot back in the day to bring down pricing and force competition, but it is amusing that Sony once said "the Vizio's of the world" in terms of bottom-dollar competitors hurting Sony's bottom line.

Now Vizio's owners cashed out and ran as opposed to IPO (they must have saw it wouldn't be good), or just continuing as-is. Can anyone of us say they would not have done the same? Also, just because the Chinese company bought them does this mean 100% bad thing? I personally do not know.

But to me the bigger concern will be that with the Vizio's of the world evaporating left and right the major flat panel players may return to their strong-arm tactics in pricing. For instance, why should Samsung stay low? And if Samsung raises prices then this will probably revitalize the Panasonic and Sony business.

Oh no, back to the $3K flat panels. I am so glad I am using front projection for critical viewing.

 

[blackangst1]

The headline is inaccurate:

A cutting-edge Chinese tech firm that you've probably never heard of just snapped up top U.S. electronics maker Vizio for $2 billion.

Vizio was never a US company.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I wonder how vendors are even making money out 1080p 40 inchers that I can find for only $250? And its not like people is going to replace them every year or two like smartphones, they are gonna keep them for like 10 years.

When it comes to market saturation and replacement cycles in consumer electronics the TV industry is easily the worst one to be in.

 

[KeithTalent]

Always assumed Vizio was a Chinese company...

KT

 

[Red Squirrel]

Is Vizio one of the TV brands that has spy mics in them? I think it's Samsung and Vizio that has those if I recall. Interesting that China will own them now. I trust China more than I trust the US government though, either way you're being spied on if you buy one of those. Then again whether a company is US owned or not, all the stuff is made in China anyway so it all comes up to the same thing.

 

[Sonikku]

Vizio was turning it around recently with their quality. Too bad.

 

[IGemini]

Is Vizio one of the TV brands that has spy mics in them? I think it's Samsung and Vizio that has those if I recall. Interesting that China will own them now. I trust China more than I trust the US government though, either way you're being spied on if you buy one of those. Then again whether a company is US owned or not, all the stuff is made in China anyway so it all comes up to the same thing.

It's LG and Samsung that have the always-on mic monitoring. My Vizio doesn't have a mic, and that hasn't changed in later models last I checked. Vizio only got crap for "burying" their smart interactivity tracker setting which is fundamentally no different than what Facebook does.

 

[stlc8tr]

The headline is inaccurate:

A cutting-edge Chinese tech firm that you've probably never heard of just snapped up top U.S. electronics maker Vizio for $2 billion.

Vizio was never a US company.

Why do you say that?

It was started by three Americans.

http://blog.vizio.com/post/40048328955/vizio-co-founders-laynie-newsome-ken-lowe-and

 

[Beer4Me]

Vizio is a crap company that outsources all manufacturing to China/Mexico. Never seen a good Vizio TV in person, and when I did, it always had issues. Makes sense that the Chinese would buy them.

 

[pauldun170]

Vizio is a crap company that outsources all manufacturing to China/Mexico. Never seen a good Vizio TV in person, and when I did, it always had issues. Makes sense that the Chinese would buy them.

While Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung and LG all make their own panels and assemble their own HDTVs, Vizio makes nothing. They buy LCD panels and parts from outside companies and relies on third-party factories, mainly those owned and operated by the Taiwanese company AmTran, to assemble these parts into TVs. Vizio earns thin margins for its dealers and itself, relying on warehouse clubs, Target and Walmart for sales volume.

Bought a Vizio last year.
No complaints.
Gets the job done.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Never seen a good Vizio TV in person

Then you weren't looking.

Vizio is one of the only LCD/LED makers to really embrace FALD displays, and they are the only major TV maker offering this level of technology at decent prices.

The "normal" priced Samsung or Sony tv (which is still more than a Vizio) uses shitty edge lit LED technology that is designed for aesthetics (read: thinness) and not picture quality. The entire TV market has turned into a disaster, where people pay extra money for brand names that don't guarantee better picture quality even in high end models. Vizio on the other hand uses good technology across its line of TVs, so you don't end up with a situation like LG where their OLED TVs are the best period your are wrong to argue but their non-OLED edge lit tvs aren't even worth the effort it takes to throw them in a dumpster.

Even a freaking $2300 Samsung like the 2016 KS8500 still has garbage edge lit technology underneath, and still people hoover up these crappy edge lit TVs up because of lack of general understanding of the types of TV technology and how much of the marketing bullet points for TVs like 4K and UHD that are wasted because the actual display technology used is crap compared to what is out there. Heck nerds on this very forum will bash the crap out of Bose speakers but then recommend a garbage edge lit Samsung TV not knowing better.

If I was buying a TV today I probably couldn't personally accept anything less than a LG OLED, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I recommend a TV for friends and family I say Vizio. They deserve at least a decent picture quality for their money. I hope their new owners respect that vision.

 

[spacejamz]

Vizio is a crap company that outsources all manufacturing to China/Mexico. Never seen a good Vizio TV in person, and when I did, it always had issues. Makes sense that the Chinese would buy them.

Then you haven't been keeping up then....

try checking the AVS Forums to see how many member there have the latest Vizio sets...

I have two 70" models that are full array LED (not edge lit) and the picture on both of them is awesome once you tweak the picture settings properly....

 

[Sonikku]

Then you weren't looking.

Vizio is one of the only LCD/LED makers to really embrace FALD displays, and they are the only major TV maker offering this level of technology at decent prices.

The "normal" priced Samsung or Sony tv (which is still more than a Vizio) uses shitty edge lit LED technology that is designed for aesthetics (read: thinness) and not picture quality. The entire TV market has turned into a disaster, where people pay extra money for brand names that don't guarantee better picture quality even in high end models. Vizio on the other hand uses good technology across its line of TVs, so you don't end up with a situation like LG where their OLED TVs are the best period your are wrong to argue but their non-OLED edge lit tvs aren't even worth the effort it takes to throw them in a dumpster.

Even a freaking $2300 Samsung like the 2016 KS8500 still has garbage edge lit technology underneath, and still people hoover up these crappy edge lit TVs up because of lack of general understanding of the types of TV technology and how much of the marketing bullet points for TVs like 4K and UHD that are wasted because the actual display technology used is crap compared to what is out there. Heck nerds on this very forum will bash the crap out of Bose speakers but then recommend a garbage edge lit Samsung TV not knowing better.

If I was buying a TV today I probably couldn't personally accept anything less than a LG OLED, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I recommend a TV for friends and family I say Vizio. They deserve at least a decent picture quality for their money. I hope their new owners respect that vision.

I expect that vision likely clashes with the new owners vision of running quality into the toilet for maximum margins.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I expect that vision likely clashes with the new owners vision of running quality into the toilet for maximum margins.

Probably. I hope to god there is cheap OLED series from anyone by the time they start running Vizio into the ground.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Vizio is a crap company that outsources all manufacturing to China/Mexico. Never seen a good Vizio TV in person, and when I did, it always had issues. Makes sense that the Chinese would buy them.

For a while now Vizio has been considered the best all around manufacturer.

 

[Kev]

Then you weren't looking.

Vizio is one of the only LCD/LED makers to really embrace FALD displays, and they are the only major TV maker offering this level of technology at decent prices.

The "normal" priced Samsung or Sony tv (which is still more than a Vizio) uses shitty edge lit LED technology that is designed for aesthetics (read: thinness) and not picture quality. The entire TV market has turned into a disaster, where people pay extra money for brand names that don't guarantee better picture quality even in high end models. Vizio on the other hand uses good technology across its line of TVs, so you don't end up with a situation like LG where their OLED TVs are the best period your are wrong to argue but their non-OLED edge lit tvs aren't even worth the effort it takes to throw them in a dumpster.

Even a freaking $2300 Samsung like the 2016 KS8500 still has garbage edge lit technology underneath, and still people hoover up these crappy edge lit TVs up because of lack of general understanding of the types of TV technology and how much of the marketing bullet points for TVs like 4K and UHD that are wasted because the actual display technology used is crap compared to what is out there. Heck nerds on this very forum will bash the crap out of Bose speakers but then recommend a garbage edge lit Samsung TV not knowing better.

If I was buying a TV today I probably couldn't personally accept anything less than a LG OLED, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I recommend a TV for friends and family I say Vizio. They deserve at least a decent picture quality for their money. I hope their new owners respect that vision.

I recently bought a Vizio M65. It's pretty damn good 65" for the $1300 I paid, and it doesn't have any judder like many other expensive brands. The nerd at best buy tried to convince me to get a Samsung that was $1000 more and looked like juddery shit.

 

[Aikouka]

I've got two Vizio TVs, and the work well. I have an older Vizio M70, which was the last one to have passive 3D. (They got that from LG.) I also put a newer M65 in my bedroom, which lacks 3D, but it has one huge advantage compared to my M70: it's back-lit vs. edge-lit. The edge lighting can be kind of weird and slow on the M70, which is really apparent when you have black bars, and all of a sudden, subtitles pop up in that area.