Vizio
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| Industry | Consumer electronics |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2002 (as V Inc.) Costa Mesa, California, U.S. |
| Founder | William Wang |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California, U.S. |
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Key people
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William Wang (CEO) Matthew McRae (CTO) |
| Products | AV electronics; LCD TVs, surround sound systems, HDTV accessories, LCD computer monitors, Laptops, all-in-one personal computers, telecommunications |
| Revenue | $3.1 billion (2014) |
| Website | www |
Vizio Inc. is an American privately held company that develops consumer electronics. Headquartered in Irvine, California, United States, the company was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. and is best known as a producer of affordable flat-screen televisions. In July 2016, Vizio announced that it would be acquired by Chinese technology company LeEco.
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.
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. 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 had over 400 employees. 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.
Vizio manufactures its products in Mexico and China under agreements with ODM assemblers in those countries.
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.
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 . 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.”
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