The indiscretion is one that makes noise. Second Bloomberg e Financial Times, Meta would like to enter the capital of EssilorLuxottica. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is in fact studying a multibillion-dollar investment in the glasses group which would be finalized, reveals the Wall Street Journal, acquire 5% of the capital of the eyewear company. A bombshell news that immediately attracted the attention of investors the stock rising by 3,16% in Paris at 196 euros per share.
Meta in the capital of EssilorLuxottica?
The reason behind the operation would be to strengthen the partnership established some time ago between Essilux and Meta to create the latest generation glasses, with the brand Rayban.
In fact, for years, Meta has been investing in the wearable technology market, for example by creating virtual reality viewers, while the eyewear company, for its part, is trying to attract a new generation of buyers.
As he tells Radiocor, years ago Mark Zuckerberg went in person to the company's headquarters in Agordo, becoming friends with Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late patron of Luxottica. Then, in 2021, the first ones were launched Ray-Ban Meta glasses, strong in the use of new technologies. Last autumn, a more recent generation of the same glasses debuted in the USA, which also makes use of Artificial Intelligence and which in Europe is still awaiting the green light from the competent authorities.
To this day, he says Bloomberg, Meta's entry into Essilux's capital would still be in doubt, but the dossier would have already ended up on the table of the investment bank Morgan Stanley.
In the meantime, EssilorLuxottica, which announced on Wednesday, is doing the shopping the acquisition of the US streetwear brand, Supreme for 1,5 billions of dollars. Bloomberg claims that the eyewear group is already studying the launch of a new version of the Smart sunglasses with Supreme branding and always in collaboration with Meta.
Last April, Zuckerberg said at a conference that the company's prospects for smart glasses have "improved a lot" and that it is one of the biggest areas in which the company is investing in his department.
