2024-07-27 19:36:20
Will glasses from Ray-Ban and Oakley soon offer access to Facebook and Instagram? In any case, the Meta Group has expressed interest in acquiring a stake in the eyewear group EssilorLuxottica.
The Facebook group Meta wants to get involved in the world’s largest eyewear provider EssilorLuxottica. The head of the French-Italian industry giant, Francesco Milleri, made the interest public without giving any further details. The company feels honored – but Meta would have to buy up the shares on the stock exchange according to the current situation, said Milleri. There was initially no reaction from the Facebook group.
For several weeks there has been speculation that Meta wants to acquire a stake of up to five percent in EssilorLuxottica, which owns brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley.
The two companies already have a promising cooperation. Together they developed a pair of glasses with a camera and speakers, which Meta sees as an important building block for the future of AI.
Thanks to such glasses, the software with artificial intelligence can see what the person is currently seeing – and respond better to the situation, emphasizes Facebook founder and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg. In addition, an AI chatbot can use them to communicate with users when they don’t have a display in front of them.
Milleri also confirmed that Google has also shown interest in working with EssilorLuxottica. However, he said they feel very comfortable in the partnership with Meta.
EssilorLuxottica is doing well. In the past quarter, the company was once again able to increase its profits more than expected. Excluding exchange rate effects, revenue rose by 5.2 percent to almost 6.7 billion euros compared to the same period last year, as the French-Italian company announced on Thursday evening in Charenton-le-Pont. The group scored points in all of its regions with the exception of North America.
In the first half of the year, the group earned 1.75 billion euros, around 6 percent more than in the same period last year. This exceeded average analyst estimates.