Vizio makes smart TVs which go easy on the wallet and hard on the ads. Perfect for a retailer like Walmart, which has bought the company for $3.2bn.
"VIZIO offers great products at great prices that customers love. They've always put customers at the center of their business – and that's core to Walmart's values and the omnichannel experiences we're excited to roll out," wrote Walmart exec Seth Dallaire in a press release. "VIZIO has also expertly changed their business over time, like building and quickly scaling a profitable advertising business. Pairing it with Walmart Connect will be impactful and allow us to invest in our business even further on behalf of our customers."
Impactful, like eating concrete. Gizmodo's Kyle Barr reminds us of this company's DNA.
You may remember the Federal Trade Commission settled with Vizio for around $2.2 million after a ProPublica report showed the company collected and sold user data to advertisers without permission. Vizio, and practically every other smart TV maker, has massive data harvesting networks that collect information about what you watch, when you watch it, what ads you sit through, and so much more.
Previously:
• All smart TVs are watching you back, but Vizio's spyware never blinks
• TV manufacturer Vizio makes more money selling data than TVs
• Vizio exec: we'd have to charge a premium on 'dumb' TVs to make up for the money we'll lose by not spying on you
