Hot on the heels of the $19 billion acquisition of instant messaging platform WhatsApp, Facebook today announced its latest purchase.
The latest buy, however, has on the face of it nothing to do with Facebook's core social networking business.
Mark Zuckerberg's firm stumped up $2 billion to snap up Oculus, the company famous for making a wrap-around virtual reality headset, the Rift.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That suggests that Zuckerberg has major plans to expand beyond what we think of today as social networking.
So, why virtual reality? Perhaps Zuckerberg imagines that the next generation of online social interaction will involve immersive virtual environments in cyberspace?
-
How to financially prepare for divorceThe Explainer Facing ‘irreconcilable differences’ does not have to be financially devastating
-
Why it’s important to shop around for a mortgage and what to look forThe Explainer You can save big by comparing different mortgage offers
-
4 ways to save on rising health care costsThe Explainer Health care expenses are part of an overall increase in the cost of living for Americans
-
Australia’s teen social media ban takes effectSpeed Read Kids under age 16 are now barred from platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Reddit
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
Supreme Court allows social media age check lawSpeed Read The court refused to intervene in a decision that affirmed a Mississippi law requiring social media users to verify their ages
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestoneSpeed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two yearsSpeed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on XSpeed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellitesSpeed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
