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Facebook Stock Closes Down 7 Percent Following Oculus Acquisition
Yesterday, we learned that $2 billion buys you talent and the most promising virtual reality startup in the market. Today, we discovered that Facebook investors aren’t sure what to make of that.
Following yesterday’s surprise purchase of Oculus VR for $400 million in cash and approximately $1.6 billion in stock, investors shed shares dropping the value by 7 percent to $60.38 (down $4.51). Facebook CEO and Oculus leadership claim the partnership is designed as a long-term strategy, partially necessitated by an as yet undisclosed timeline for a consumer head-mounted display.
Both parties have relationships to smooth over, with Facebook in need of immediate retail investor cultivation and potential institutional investor trouble that has yet to emerge. Oculus touched off a wave of discontent that will take time to assuage, especially among developers that backed the company’s Kickstarter in 2012.
For more on Oculus, check out our interview today with CEO Brendon Iribe, founder Palmer Luckey, and vice president of product Nate Mitchell.
Our Take
Retail investors are clearly disquieted by the Oculus acquisition, but I’m more concerned with how institutional investors react in the coming days. If Facebook doesn’t say the right things and assure those parties, we could see an even larger swath of share value eroded in short order.
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