China's LeEco Calls Off Its $2 Billion Purchase of TV Maker Vizio (axios.com)

Posted by msmash on Monday April 10, 2017 @06:40AM from the not-a-done-deal dept.

Last year, China's conglomerate LeEco announced it would be acquiring TV maker Vizio for a sum of $2 billion. The move would have given LeEco, which is increasingly expanding its business beyond Chinese market, an instant foothold in the United States. But today, both companies announced they are cancelling the plan due to "regulatory headwinds." In a statement, the companies said: We continue to believe that there is great synergy between the two companies, and are pleased to announce that LeEco and Vizio have reached an agreement that is a win for both companies ... LeEco and Vizio will continue to explore opportunities to incorporate the Le app and content within the Vizio connected CE platform, and engage in a collaborative partnership to leverage LeEco's ecosystem user interface platform, along with the brand's exclusive content and distribution channels, to bring Vizio products to the China market. The announcement comes amid troubled times for both the companies. On one hand, LeEco is struggling financially. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the company had delayed payroll for its US employees. Vizio was thrown under the bus in February after FTC fined the company $2.2 million to settle a case involving the TVs' data collection techniques.

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Knock-off Vizio TVs by MobyDisk · 2017-04-10 08:09 · Score: 2

I tell people my TV was so cheap, it's a fake Vizio.
The funny story is that my Vizio TV came with the letters VIZIO on the front corner. But after a few days, the first "I" fell off so it just said V ZIO. A month later, the other "I" fell-off so now it says V Z O. I love the TV snobs who feel snubbed to be in a house that has a low-end TV, but double-so since I would buy a fake version of it. I'm not sure if they believe me or not. :-) In reality, Vizio gets good reviews in the mid-range. Check-out rtings for accurate no-nonsense reviews. The real low-end TVs are the "Westinghouse" and "RCA" which are just companies that rebrand existing products, or names like "Proscan" that appear for a year then vanish.