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Facebook, Oculus VR deal officially closes

The acquisition of gaming headset firm Oculus VR by Facebook has now officially closed, in a deal worth approximately $2 billion.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer
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Credit: CNET UK

The acquisition of Oculus VR by Facebook has officially come to a close in a deal worth roughly $2 billion.

Announced in March this year, the purchase of virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR left many scratching their heads. As Facebook turns its business plan from being simply a social media website into a prominent social media empire, the firm has spent billions in acquiring companies ranging from messaging service WhatsApp, mobile app monitor Little Eye Labs and ProtoGeo OY, a fitness tracker app developer.

One of the most recent buys is the acqusition of Oculus VR. The deal was inked for approximately $2 billion, breaking down to $400 million in cash, 23.1 million shares Facebook common stock shares and $300 million as earnings if certain "milestones" are achieved.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time of the announcement that "virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform," which would explain that Facebook is looking towards new technology in order to stay dominant within the social media field, as well as expanding outwards to stay profitable in the future.

In a joint statement, Facebook and Oculus VR confirmed the closure of the deal, and said they were looking forward to "building the next computing platform and reimagining the way people communicate."

Oculus will remain at its current headquarters in Irvine, Calif., and will remain under its own brand as the team continues to develop the virtual reality platform Oculus Rift, which was received positively at CES 2014 earlier this year.

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