Technology

Meta eyes 5% stake in EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company

Stake in world's largest eyewear company could give Meta Platforms more control over smart glasses development

Reuters July 18, 2024

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, September 27, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

Meta Platforms (META.O) is in talks to acquire a stake of about 5% in EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA), its production partner for Ray-Ban smart glasses, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The stake in the world's largest eyewear company could be worth 4.33 billion euros ($4.73 billion) based on its latest market value of 86.50 billion euros, according to Reuters calculations based on LSEG data.

The potential deal could give Meta further control over the roadmap for the smart glasses at a time when tech giants including Apple (AAPL.O) are investing millions to create cutting-edge gadgets based on augmented- and mixed-reality technologies.

EssilorLuxottica's Paris-listed shares were up 3% after the report, while Meta gained 1.2%.

The eyewear company was formed in 2018 through a merger of France's Essilor and Italy's Luxottica. Delfin, the holding company owned by the family of Luxottica's late founder Leonardo Del Vecchio, is its largest investor, with a stake of nearly 33%.

The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, first launched in 2021, have been an important part of Meta's consumer products portfolio.

EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri said earlier this week that the new generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, launched last October, have sold more in a few months than the old ones did in two years.

Analysts have been positive about the latest generation of the glasses, which include a Meta AI assistant and are capable of livestreaming broadcasts of what a user is seeing directly to Facebook and Instagram.

"We believe Meta's Ray-Ban Smart Glasses may only be a generation or two away from finding product market fit," Bernstein analysts said earlier this month.

A third-generation of the glasses is expected to be ready by the 2025 holiday-shopping season, according to the WSJ report.

EssilorLuxottica declined to comment, while Meta did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.