Walmart In Talks To Buy Smart TV Brand Vizio For $2B

Reuters reports:

Walmart is in talks to buy smart-television manufacturer Vizio for more than $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, a move that could bolster its advertising business and give it control of more than a fifth of the U.S. television market. Vizio shares closed up 24.6% on Tuesday. The reported offer price is nearly 30% higher than Vizio’s $1.54 billion market cap at close on Monday.

The talks come at a time Walmart is increasingly monetizing its reach and troves of shopper data to sell ads on its properties including its website and store assets such as digital diplays, connected TVs and radio. dding Vizio TVs could give companies including J.M. Smucker and Kraft Heinz more screens to display their ads to the more than 130 million shoppers that visit Walmart’s 5,000 U.S. stores each week.

Read the full article. Apparently you can’t run ads on in-store televisions that are for sale unless you also happen to own that brand of televisions.

Walmart in talks to buy Vizio for more than $2 bln, WSJ reports https://t.co/UbDliPBJRE pic.twitter.com/HjyS7HGKWQ

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 13, 2024