Walmart Acquires Smart TV Firm Vizio to Boost Advertising Business

Walmart has Vizio, a popular name in the American TV and entertainment business. The deal had been in the process since February this year, and Walmart has finally closed the acquisition.

In their latest announcement post, Walmart shares that the Vizio deal cost $2.3 billion. The e-commerce giant received all of Vizio’s assets, including its gross profit, advertising, and data. With this, Walmart seems to be going all in to the advertising business to compete with the likes of Roku, Amazon, and Google.

This is evident from the announcement, which elaborates that Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System will boost Walmart’s product discovery and help brands “achieve greater impact from their advertising investments with Walmart Connect”.

Among other things, this should allow Walmart to advertise better thanks to shopper information. Vizio TVs were known for its targeted advertising. The service often went above and beyond for tracking users, thus raising concerns over privacy. It shouldn’t be surprising if existing and new Vizio TV owners see more targeted ads based on their purchase history, viewing habits, and shopping preferences.

Speaking about the acquisition, Walmart US’ Executive VP and chief growth officer, stated:

VIZIO offers great products at great prices that customers love. They’ve always put customers at the center of their business – and that’s core to Walmart’s values and the omnichannel experiences we’re excited to roll out. VIZIO has also expertly changed their business over time, like building and quickly scaling a profitable advertising business. Pairing it with Walmart Connect will be impactful and allow us to invest in our business even further on behalf of our customers.

Vizio’s CEO and Founder William Wang said:

Since the inception of VIZIO, our mission has been to provide incredible value, great technology, and award-winning innovation. Today, with the tremendous number of resources from Walmart, we will continue to further accelerate that mission around the best home entertainment experience.

While Vizio has become a “wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart” and its stock will “no longer be listed for trading on the NYSE,” both companies will still operate independently.

What are your thoughts on Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio? Let us know in the comments below.