China's LeEco Acquires VIZIO For $2B

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This deal could be good and it could be bad, I guess it all depends on how you look at the situation. My immediate thought is that a Chinese company buying an American privately held company kinda sucks. What are your thoughts?

Based in Irvine, CA and founded in 2002, VIZIO is a leading consumer electronics brand in North America, with #1 unit share in Smart TVs1 and #1 unit share in Sound Bars2. The company is focused on delivering the ultimate home entertainment experience through its ecosystem of hardware, software and services. The acquisition benefits both companies with VIZIO offering LeEco a steady install base of users and a brand that is both popular and successfully distributed throughout major North American retail channels. LeEco provides VIZIO immediate global scale to bring its innovations to consumers worldwide. Like LeEco, VIZIO shares a similar vision of creating premium products with the latest innovations and making them accessible for everyone – from budget-minded students to custom home theater cinephiles – without sacrificing quality or performance.
 
since no one wants to work in america the Chinese can ramp up production now and saturate the market with even more junky LED sets for black friday. I hope Panasonic and Samsung just hurry up and release a cheap OLED set. for 2017-18
Vizio is know for great picture and very low input lag at 4k, hopefully it stays that way. I own the 2014-15 4k model and can definitely see a difference when it comes to gaming vs my 2013 samsung F8500 plasma. Waiting for something other than LG to make a 65-70" OLED for under 4k dollars
 
no one wants to work or offer jobs that pay more than the low minimal wage offered in america to put these sets together so do what donald trump does hire chinese to run everything as well as making mens ties.
 
does suck. the cheap visio i have is pretty darn good AND it plays nicely with old consoles even using RF!

So many won't and most cheap ass LED tv sucks so bad it isn't even funny. they aren't even good at view TV shows.

kept telling myself if my plasma ever goes kaput I'd pick up a nice big visio but there goes that idea.
 
From what I've read LeEco makes good products, so this might not be a bad thing. Let's see where they go with Vizio & judge them after they've released some new products. The build quality has a possibility of going up just as much as going down.
 
Bummer, I was looking at upgrading my 50" m class to a 70" m/p class in the future, I just hope they retain the quality on their high end sets
 
Bet in 6 or so months the vizio factory in the US closes and moves to china.
 
I don't buy Chinese crap. Vizio was one of those few gems in terms of straddling the performance/price balance. I have a Vizio BDP and LED set, but that will be the last. I guess I will go back to Samsung to get good performance for the money. Maybe Vizio will maintain their current status, but I refuse to take that chance when there is a LOT of competition out there that is still Korean and Japanese.
 
Good for them. Making TV's is less and less profitable these days. Most if not all of their sets were probably made in China anyway.
 
Arbit3r said:
Bet in 6 or so months the vizio factory in the US closes and moves to china.
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What? I don't think there is any factory in the US for vizio, they mostly get their screens from taiwan/a bit of japan as well. As well as i remember they are assembled in taiwan as well. Although i think they moved assembly to mexico but not sure.

Vizio's market is the good for price segments, feature set and quality similar(not as good) to top brands without the sticker shock. But way better than cheap chinese no badge stuff like westinghouse, element etc.
 
Steve said:
This deal could be good and it could be bad, I guess it all depends on how you look at the situation. My immediate thought is that a Chinese company buying an American privately held company kinda sucks. What are your thoughts?

Based in Irvine, CA and founded in 2002, VIZIO is a leading consumer electronics brand in North America, with #1 unit share in Smart TVs1 and #1 unit share in Sound Bars2. The company is focused on delivering the ultimate home entertainment experience through its ecosystem of hardware, software and services. The acquisition benefits both companies with VIZIO offering LeEco a steady install base of users and a brand that is both popular and successfully distributed throughout major North American retail channels. LeEco provides VIZIO immediate global scale to bring its innovations to consumers worldwide. Like LeEco, VIZIO shares a similar vision of creating premium products with the latest innovations and making them accessible for everyone – from budget-minded students to custom home theater cinephiles – without sacrificing quality or performance.
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Well, Since Vizio already made some cheap TVs, that their own recommendation was to "Throw them away, rather than to "Repair Them", unfortunately, one of which we bought, I'm not too much on Vizio TVs anyway!
 
I'm a bit torn on this. I'm no fan of Vizio (my shop repairs more of them than all other brands combined), but I don't like seeing American companies going away, either. Even if they weren't manufacturing here anyway.
 
Steve said:
This deal could be good and it could be bad, I guess it all depends on how you look at the situation. My immediate thought is that a Chinese company buying an American privately held company kinda sucks. What are your thoughts?
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My thoughts is that there's no such thing as an "American company" they're entities that extend beyond borders and move around money like monopoly pieces, they enjoy Constitutional benefits of being an individual but don't have the tax restrictions of one.

That said, is Costco still going to sell these TVs?
 
I've been trying to convince my wife to buy Vizio for our next TV because Vizio sets have good quality but not expensive like the top brands. She was insisting Samsung or LG. I guess Vizio is now out of my consideration.
 
I wonder if this will change anything at all. I've been thinking of buying a Visio M or P series set at the end of the year, the current sets seem like decent models for a low price, with good response times which is important to me.

Trimlock said:
I'm sort of a Panasonic fanboy myself.
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Do they still make TVs? I have a 10 year old Panasonic HDTV at the moment, but I haven't seen any new ones when I've been out looking at possible replacements. I'd be interested in Panasonic if I could find one. My current TV is darn near indestructible, it was even fine when I knocked it right off the stand and into the coffee table 6 years ago.
 
this is horrible. I have 2 vizios tvs and was thinking on buying a new 50in vizio. now they are a Chinese company? I always supported them because they were an American company! true! that sucks!
 
AndreRio said:
this is horrible. I have 2 vizios tvs and was thinking on buying a new 50in vizio. now they are a Chinese company? I always supported them because they were an American company! true! that sucks!
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Vizio is less of an American company than Apple even. They just outsource labor to Taiwan and use random people's panels. Basically they move money around so you feel like you are buying American when you could have just bought direct from some other manufacturer and gotten better quality. At least Apple designs their logic boards here and has them openly manufactured by Foxconn.

As for their being sold, it shouldn't affect the already low prices. But I prefer LG any how because they are the only ones doing OLED and proper color calibration on mid range sets. And they make their own panels.
 
JosiahBradley said:
Vizio is less of an American company than Apple even. They just outsource labor to Taiwan and use random people's panels. Basically they move money around so you feel like you are buying American when you could have just bought direct from some other manufacturer and gotten better quality. At least Apple designs their logic boards here and has them openly manufactured by Foxconn.

As for their being sold, it shouldn't affect the already low prices. But I prefer LG any how because they are the only ones doing OLED and proper color calibration on mid range sets. And they make their own panels.
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I have a non-SmartTV 1080p LG HDTV, which has lasted us since 2009. I can highly recommend LG panels for their longevity.
 
amdgamer said:
I don't buy Chinese crap. Vizio was one of those few gems in terms of straddling the performance/price balance. I have a Vizio BDP and LED set, but that will be the last. I guess I will go back to Samsung to get good performance for the money. Maybe Vizio will maintain their current status, but I refuse to take that chance when there is a LOT of competition out there that is still Korean and Japanese.
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You don't? Both game consoles in your sig were made in China, using Chinese supplied parts and labor, and then shipped around the world. Damn near every piece of electronics these days comes from China in one way or another. Hell most "American" cars are made from Chinese manufactured parts. Vizio's sets were made from parts sourced from China, Korea, and Tawain. They were simply assembled here.
 
Quix said:
I wonder if this will change anything at all. I've been thinking of buying a Visio M or P series set at the end of the year, the current sets seem like decent models for a low price, with good response times which is important to me.



Do they still make TVs? I have a 10 year old Panasonic HDTV at the moment, but I haven't seen any new ones when I've been out looking at possible replacements. I'd be interested in Panasonic if I could find one. My current TV is darn near indestructible, it was even fine when I knocked it right off the stand and into the coffee table 6 years ago.
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True to their nature they make some awesome 4K TVs both high end and some really good mid range TV's.

I still have two Panasonic plasma TV's, S10(I think) and a VT60. Very awesome quality. They don't make plasma anymore though. Turns out you can't make a 4K plasma :(
 
I could be wrong here, but I believe Vizio is an "American" company, not an American company.

Everything they do, they do in China.
 
So the #1 tv seller in america got bought for 10x less than linkedin...

I still dont understand why apple doesnt just buy ford and gm with 1/8-1/4 of their cash reserves. I think at one point apple had enough cash to buy all car manufacturers, and still have 100 billion left over.
 
nightanole said:
I still dont understand why apple doesnt just buy ford and gm with 1/8-1/4 of their cash reserves. I think at one point apple had enough cash to buy all car manufacturers, and still have 100 billion left over.
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Low margins, they're not the Apple way.
 
UnrealCpu said:
no one wants to work or offer jobs that pay more than the low minimal wage offered in america to put these sets together so do what donald trump does hire chinese to run everything as well as making mens ties.
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So you come in here to spew your political BS but have no idea what you're talking about. You could at least use proper grammar and punctuation if you want to be taken seriously.

Vizio might be American owned, but all the TVs are built overseas. America simply can't compete with the likes of Korea/Japan/China on this type of stuff.
 
My high school history teacher taught me one valuable lesson:

If a foreign entity is investing in an american company, then it is because they believe it to be valuable and profitable.

So it's a statement to the value of the company and faith in the United States economy.

That said, the Chinese are obviously very bad when it comes to patents, ip, and trademarks. They rip off everything by reverse engineering, or copying molds from others and create counterfeit versions. Appropriate agreements must be put in place to keep all proprietary technology WITHIN the USA and off Chinese networks.
 
There are three companies in the USA that assemble TV's in the USA. By far the largest is:
politifact said:
Element Electronics is by far the largest. From a plant in Winnsboro, S.C., it assembles flat-screen TVs that are sold by Walmart, Target and other retail outlets. We tried three times to reach a spokesperson for the company but didn’t hear back
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A number of companies make their screens in Mexico. The price of LCD screens is dropping so much that manufacturing them over seas and getting them here turns out to be more expensive then making them in mexico.
 
nightanole said:
I still dont understand why apple doesnt just buy ford and gm with 1/8-1/4 of their cash reserves. I think at one point apple had enough cash to buy all car manufacturers, and still have 100 billion left over.
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Doubtful any company keeps that much actual cash in reserve, the total value of all their stock might be high priced, but Apple itself doesn't own enough of it's own stock to do that sort of thing even for a stock swap.
 
I love my P series, as a TV.

The new SmartCast android device as a TV remote is annoying as shit though. I would have rather them kept the apps on the actual TV. It was a good idea but it was seriously flawed. But as far as an HDR 4k TV goes you can't beat the Vizio P Series in terms of price/performance.
 
delita said:
I love my P series, as a TV.

The new SmartCast android device as a TV remote is annoying as shit though. I would have rather them kept the apps on the actual TV. It was a good idea but it was seriously flawed. But as far as an HDR 4k TV goes you can't beat the Vizio P Series in terms of price/performance.
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I'm ready to plop down up to $3500 on a new set for the living room and Vizio P series 65" 2016 is in my sights. In the showroom, the Vizio had a more balanced image in my opionion with Samsung and Sony looking cartoonish with their colors. The Vizio looked better than my Panny G10 and VT35 50" plasmas in color reproduction and black level. I need to find a dedicated home theater store in the City or NJ to see a Samsung or Sony properly calibrated and under similar lighting conditions as my home and see what I like better. I'll even buy it from them if it's a fair price. But to my eyes, the Vizio looked great the second I laid eyes on it with the exception of the bad reflections which is the fault of the folks setting up the TV (and then there's the store's lighting). Hopefully this is a good move for Vizio.
 
I'm kinda surprised they were not sold for more.

Trimlock said:
I'm sort of a Panasonic fanboy myself.
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Yea I am too. My current TV is one of theirs that I bought as an upgrade for the last round of game consoles.
 
tesfaye said:
I'm ready to plop down up to $3500 on a new set for the living room and Vizio P series 65" 2016 is in my sights. In the showroom, the Vizio had a more balanced image in my opionion with Samsung and Sony looking cartoonish with their colors. The Vizio looked better than my Panny G10 and VT35 50" plasmas in color reproduction and black level. I need to find a dedicated home theater store in the City or NJ to see a Samsung or Sony properly calibrated and under similar lighting conditions as my home and see what I like better. I'll even buy it from them if it's a fair price. But to my eyes, the Vizio looked great the second I laid eyes on it with the exception of the bad reflections which is the fault of the folks setting up the TV (and then there's the store's lighting). Hopefully this is a good move for Vizio.
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Like I said, for the money you can't beat it. I checked the Vizio side by side with the Samsung and I do NOT think the Samsung was worth the extra money. Honestly if you're looking at $3500 top end and want to actually spend the money, the new LG OLED would be the next step up. Probably couldn't do the 65 but my next MONITOR move would probably be the 55" curved LG OLED which is right around 3 grand for the newest series (35ms latency is the best they can do right now).
 
Trimlock said:
I'm sort of a Panasonic fanboy myself.
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We are a multi-brand household.

My main livingroom TV is a 65" Panasonic Plasma. On my desktop I use a 48" 4k Samsung JS9000 as a monitor.

We have a Vizio D40-D1 (I think?) 1080p TV in the bedroom, and in the guest room there is an old cheap 32" Philips 720p TV.

I haven't seen any of Panasonics newer stuff, but I do like their old Plasma's.

As far as newer technologies go, I tend to gravitate towards either Samsung or LG, but wound up with the Vizio because it was cheap and a pretty decent bang for the buck. (Don't need a super TV in the bedroom) The old Philips TV was what my Fiance had when we met. It's OK for basic watching, but nothing to write home about.
 
i wonder what you americans would do if the chinese bought the statue of liberty. and decided to desassemble it and bring it to china. lol
 
^ Trump would probably approve, his love for China is pretty embarrassing to watch. He's the kind of guy who probably would move to China after his precidency ended and would bring more businesses there and pro-China trade deals with him in the process.
 
Arbit3r said:
Bet in 6 or so months the vizio factory in the US closes and moves to china.
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What factory in the US? It's hard to close something they never had.

Trimlock said:
I'm sort of a Panasonic fanboy myself.
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That's going to be a problem for you considering Panasonic no longer sells TVs in the US (assuming you live in the US).

DigitalGriffin said:
A number of companies make their screens in Mexico. The price of LCD screens is dropping so much that manufacturing them over seas and getting them here turns out to be more expensive then making them in mexico.
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They don't make anything in Mexico. They assemble TVs in Mexico. The LCD panels / modules are made in Asia. In some cases, they are assembled into TVs in Mexico.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
I could be wrong here, but I believe Vizio is an "American" company, not an American company.

Everything they do, they do in China.
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They engineered and headquartered out of here. Better than nothing which is the alternative. Can't compete with substandard wages and currency fixing so building abroad is the only chance for any viability.
 
UnrealCpu said:
no one wants to work or offer jobs that pay more than the low minimal wage offered in america to put these sets together so do what donald trump does hire chinese to run everything as well as making mens ties.
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And in Mexico lmao
 
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