Meta acquires stake in EssilorLuxottica

According to reports, the Facebook parent company, Meta Platforms Inc (Meta), is investing in the French eyewear group EssilorLuxottica.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the US company has acquired a stake of just under three percent for approximately three billion euros. The report follows the announcement of the investment plans a year ago.

Meta is also considering increasing its stake to around five percent over time. The investment is seen as a financial commitment to the rapidly growing "smartglasses" market. Representatives from both companies declined to comment to Bloomberg.

The two companies already have a promising partnership, which was extended in September. Together, they developed a frame with a camera and speakers, which is an important building block for Meta's AI future. Facebook founder and Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, emphasised that thanks to such glasses, the artificial intelligence software can see what the wearer is seeing and respond better to the situation. An AI chatbot can also communicate with users when they do not have a display in front of them.

On the stock market, the news only caused a stir for the French company. The ADRs traded in New York recently gained six percent. Meta shares, on the other hand, hardly moved and were virtually unchanged.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com