Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp., Beijing cancelled the acquisition of VIZIO, Inc.
April 10, 2017
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Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp., Beijing (SZSE:300104) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire VIZIO, Inc. for $2 billion on July 26, 2016. As part of the definitive agreement, LeEco will acquire all of the VIZIO hardware and software operations, technology and intellectual property. The VIZIO hardware and software businesses will be owned and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco, while the VIZIO data business, Inscape, will spin out and operate as a separate, privately owned company. The VIZIO executive management team will remain in place and will continue to operate from its existing headquarters in Irvine, CA. LeEco will retain all current Vizio employees and enter into a 10-year licensing agreement with Inscape. William Wang will transition to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inscape. As of December 27, 2016, approval from Chinese regulators may be granted in the first quarter of 2017. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2016.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated acted as financial advisor to the special committee of the VIZIO Board of directors; and Scott Shean, David C. Lee, B. Shayne Kennedy, Samuel Weiner, David Taub, Michelle Carpenter, Maj Vaseghi, Jason Bosworth, David Kuiper, Hilary Shalla, Christopher Norton, Jennifer Archie, Michele Johnson, Jason Cruise, Les Carnegie, Douglas Greenburg, David Blumental, Rowland Cheng and Allen Wang of Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor for VIZIO. Julie Gao, Michael Gisser, Michael Mies, Will Cai, Stuart Levi, Karen Corman, David Kitchen, Sean Shimamoto, Ivan Schlager and Ken Schwartz of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal advisor for Leshi Internet Information & Technology. Alan Deneberg of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP as underwriters' counsel.
Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp., Beijing (SZSE:300104) cancelled the acquisition of VIZIO, Inc. on April 10, 2017. The deal was cancelled due to regulatory issues.
VIZIO Holding Corp. is engaged in delivering entertainment and lifestyle enhancements that make its products the center of the connected home. The Company operates through two segments: Device and Platform+. The Device segment offers a range of smart televisions (TVs) designed to address specific consumer preferences, as well as a portfolio of sound bars that deliver audio experiences. The Platform+ segment consists of SmartCast, its smart TV operating system, which enables its fully integrated entertainment solution, and Inscape, which powers its data intelligence and services. SmartCast delivers an array of content and applications through an interface. It supports various streaming apps, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube TV, and hosts its own free, ad-supported app, WatchFree+. Inscape is its automatic content recognition (ACR) technology, which can identify the content displayed on the screen of its smart TVs.