Meta Invests $3.5 Billion in EssilorLuxottica in AI Glasses Push
Facebook parent Meta acquired just under 3 percent of Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, a stake worth around €3 billion ($3.5 billion) at the current market price, said the people, who asked not to be identified because deliberations are private. Menlo Park, California-based Meta is considering further investment that could build the stake to around 5 percent over time, the people added, though those plans could still change.
EssilorLuxottica's American depositary receipts rose as much as 6.9 percent to $148, their biggest intraday jump since April 9. Representatives for Meta and EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.
Meta's investment in the eyewear giant deepens the relationship between the two companies, which have partnered over the past several years to develop AI-powered smart glasses. Meta currently sells a pair of Ray-Ban glasses, first debuted in 2021, with built-in cameras and an AI assistant. Last month, it launched separate Oakley-branded glasses with EssilorLuxottica. EssilorLuxottica Chief executive officer Francesco Milleri said last year that Meta was interested in taking a stake the company, but that plan hadn't materialized until now.
ADVERTISEMENT
The deal aligns with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to AI, which has become a top priority and major expense for the company. Smart glasses are a key part of that plan. While Meta has historically had to deliver its apps and services via smartphones created by competitors, glasses offer Meta a chance to build its own hardware and control its own distribution, Zuckerberg has said. The arrangement gives Meta the advantage of having more detailed manufacturing knowledge and global distribution networks, fundamental to turning its smart glasses into mass-market products.
For EssilorLuxottica, the deal provides a deeper presence in the tech world, which would be helpful if Meta's futuristic bets pay off. Meta is also betting on the idea that people will one day work and play while wearing headsets or glasses.
Shares of Warby Parker, a competing glasses-maker, rose as much as 4.3 percent on Bloomberg's report.
By Daniele Lepido, Tommaso Ebhardt and Kurt Wagner
Learn more:
Meta Launches $399 Oakley AI Smart Glasses
Meta introduces new Oakley smart glasses, expanding beyond Ray-Ban, targeting athletes and leveraging AI capabilities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
17 minutes ago
- New York Post
Gowanus is getting a $25K/month rental
The low-slung industrial buildings that once defined Brooklyn's Gowanus are disappearing. In their place: $25,000-a-month rentals. The rezoned neighborhood's newest luxury condominium is coming on the market this month. 544 Carroll, developed by the real estate investment firm Avery Hall, is meeting what it says is growing demand for spacious, luxury condos among the brownstones of Brooklyn. The 17-story development, located at the border of Gowanus and Park Slope, is made up of 133 units, including two floors of penthouses and one extra-pricey duplex. 7 A rendering of the soon-to-be launched 544 Carroll. Courtesy of Avery Hall 7 The 175-foot-tall development enjoys far-reaching views across the otherwise low-lying Gowanus. Courtesy of Avery Hall The 2,500-square-foot duplex at 544 Carroll will be the largest advertised rental on the Gowanus market, according to StreetEasy — and the most expensive. The $25,000-a-month unit beats out the neighborhood's current highest rental price by an excess of $13,500. Located across the sixth and seventh floors, the residence includes four bedrooms and 1,082 square feet of outdoor space. The rest of the one-, two- and three-bedroom units in the building range in price from $4,700 for the smallest one-bedroom to $15,000 for a premium three-bed penthouse. A quarter of the apartments are designated as permanently affordable. In addition to luxurious touches throughout the units, like marble countertops and walk-in closets, the 175-foot-tall building prioritizes spaciousness. Its smallest units are a sizable 630 square feet, and every two-bedroom comes with two bathrooms to match. 7 A rendering of a unit at 544 Carroll, featuring large windows and a sleek kitchen. Courtesy of Avery Hall 7 Some units in the building enjoy free-standing tubs and double vanities. Courtesy of Avery Hall Jesse Wark and Brian Ezra, founding partners of the Gowanus-based Avery Hall, told The Post that despite rapid housing growth in the area, current layouts neglect those looking for extra elbow room. 'I think most people would not recognize these as New York rentals,' Wark said. 'Given the space, you can fit a dining table in your one-bedroom along with your living room. These things are not standard in the market.' Gowanus has room to grow, and renters want to enjoy it. The firm cited a growing renter-by-choice demographic made up of high-earning New Yorkers who prefer the flexibility of renting to home ownership, whether due to the transient nature of their jobs, languishing high mortgage rates or ongoing economic uncertainty. In addition to large two-bedrooms and lofty duplexes, the building offers the gamut of luxe condo amenities, including a dedicated pilates studio, a cave-centric children's play area, a pet spa and a private dining room. 7 A rendering of the children's playroom. Courtesy of Avery Hall 7 The sun-drenched lobby at 544 Carroll. Courtesy of Avery Hall 7 A pilates room is located inside the building's fitness studio. Courtesy of Avery Hall 544 Carroll represents another step in the Gowanus's snappy transformation. Where gritty warehouses and an odorous canal once defined the neighborhood, kitschy axe throwing bars, art studios and a Whole Foods now dot its landscape. In May, the real estate analytics company Marketproof tracked 141 residential projects with roughly 6,700 new units currently under development in Gowanus, Brick Underground reported. But the Manhattan-like rents at 544 Carroll are tied to the building's dual identity — situated on Carroll Street and Fourth Avenue, it's just a crosswalk away from pricey Park Slope. While Gowanus has undergone massive changes, Ezra told The Post that the firm would not have built a project like 544 Carroll anywhere else in the neighborhood. Gowanus' rebirth and Park Slope's established amenities made it possible. 'It's the combination of tapping into that new energy and also harnessing this existing, beautiful, super strong neighborhood in Park Slope that created this unique opportunity,' Ezra said. 'It will be a part of both communities,' Wark added.
Chicago Tribune
17 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Gary Teachers Union opposes online teacher hiring: move replaces 'soul of education'
As a nationwide teacher shortage left Gary schools turning to online licensed teachers to fill the void, the move has drawn criticism from the leader of the Gary Teachers Union. The Gary School Board voted July 9 to retain Proximity, an Austin, Texas-based company to provide up to 41 online licensed teachers for middle and high school classrooms. 'We remain focused on providing the best for our scholars, which includes instruction delivered by highly qualified, licensed teachers,' said Gary Community School Corp. Superintendent Yvonne Stokes. 'We value our teachers and will continue to work to find a path forward to secure in-person, licensed instructors. We are still hiring and remain in contact with those teachers who are demonstrating efforts to meet the guidelines set forth by the law to obtain their certification,' Stokes said in a statement. District officials said about one-third of its teacher roster of about 245 teachers worked under an emergency permit last year, meaning they didn't hold the state-required teachers' license. The district just emerged from seven years of state control last year because of its perilous financial situation. Stokes joined the district last year as the first hire of the new state and local appointed school board. However, years of uncertainty may have soured local educators from applying for jobs, officials said. School board president Michael Suggs cited the urgency to have licensed teachers on a recent radio appearance with Stokes. 'We've been a failing school district for 10 years… 10 years of failing is broken. We have to rise to a new level, and reset the bar,' he said. Gary's students have performed poorly on state and national standardized tests for more than a decade. 'The state of Indiana says you can't have emergency permits more than three years in a row,' Suggs said. Chief human resources officer Jovanka Cvitkovich said one teacher worked on an emergency permit for seven years. Teachers union president GlenEva Dunham urged the district to reconsider its decision on using Proximity teachers. 'This is not just about saving money or adopting the latest technological trend,' Dunham said in a statement. 'This is about the future of our children, the integrity of our schools, and the livelihoods of the teachers who are committed to making Gary a better city for everyone. We deserve more than virtual replacements.' Dunham, who said the union wasn't consulted about hiring Proximity, said the online teaching platform will leave students more isolated. She said the emergency permit teachers are union members and covered under the contract's recognition clause. 'This partnership with Proximity is not just a decision to 'go digital' — it is a decision to replace the soul of education with something far more distant,' Dunham said. However, both sides agree on the importance of an in-person teacher in front of the classroom. Along with the online instructor, Gary officials said a facilitator will be in each online classroom to back up instruction and keep students on task. 'We cannot continue to place students in classrooms year after year with individuals who have not advanced toward professional credentials, especially when their instructional impact does not meet state expectations for student growth,' said Cvitkovich, who herself began her education career on an emergency permit. 'While well-intentioned, this practice places our students at a significant disadvantage and places the district at risk for continued academic underperformance,' she said in a statement. Last year, there were more than 1,300 teaching vacancies in Indiana, according to the state Department of Education. Low pay and increased responsibilities were among the reasons for the shortage. The General Assembly passed legislation this year boosting a starting teacher's salary from $40,000 to $45,000. Gary's starting salary is $50,883. The Gary Teachers Union is hosting a community forum on the issue from 6 to 7:30 p.m. July 31 at the teachers union, 1401 Virginia St.
The Hill
17 minutes ago
- The Hill
From tech podcasts to policy: Trump's new AI plan leans heavily on Silicon Valley industry ideas
President Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping new plan for America's 'global dominance' in artificial intelligence, proposing to cut back environmental regulations to speed up the construction of AI supercomputers while promoting the sale of U.S.-made AI technologies at home and abroad. The 'AI Action Plan' introduced Wednesday embraces many of the ideas voiced by tech industry lobbyists and the Silicon Valley investors who backed Trump's election campaign last year. The White House on Wednesday revealed the 'AI Action Plan' Trump ordered after returning to the White House in January. Trump gave his tech advisers six months to come up with new AI policies after revoking President Joe Biden's signature AI guardrails on his first day in office. The unveiling is co-hosted by the bipartisan Hill and Valley Forum and the 'All-In' podcast, a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs, which includes Trump's AI czar, David Sacks. The plan includes some familiar tech lobby pitches. That includes accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products. It also includes some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year. Trump's AI plan: global dominance, cutting regulations The plan prioritizes AI innovation and adoption, urging the removal of any 'red tape' that could be slowing down adoption across industries and government. But it also seeks to guide the industry's growth to address a longtime rallying point for the tech industry's loudest Trump backers: countering the liberal bias they see in AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google's Gemini. Trump's plan seeks to block the government from contracting with tech companies unless they 'ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.' A Biden-era framework for evaluating the riskiest AI applications should also be stripped of any references to 'misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change,' the plan said. The plan also says the nation's leading AI models should protect free speech and be 'founded on American values,' though it doesn't define which values those should include. Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump's top AI adviser, has been criticizing 'woke AI' for more than a year, fueled by Google's February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Asian and Native American men. Google quickly fixed its tool, but the 'Black George Washington' moment remained a parable for the problem of AI's perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers. Streamlining AI data center permits to speed up supercomputer construction The plan aims to speed up permitting and loosen environmental regulation to accelerate construction on new data centers and factories and the power sources to fuel them. It condemns 'radical climate dogma' and recommends lifting a number of environmental restrictions, including clean air and water laws. Trump has previously paired AI's need for huge amounts of electricity with his own push to tap into U.S. energy sources, including gas, coal and nuclear. Many tech giants are already well on their way toward building new data centers in the U.S. and around the world. OpenAI announced this week that it has switched on the first phase of a massive data center complex in Abilene, Texas, part of an Oracle-backed project known as Stargate that Trump promoted earlier this year. Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and xAI also have major projects underway. The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting rules to get its computing facilities connected to power, but the AI building boom has also contributed to spiking demand for fossil fuel production, which will contribute to global warming. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the world's major tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030. 'A typical AI data center eats up as much electricity as 100,000 homes,' Guterres said. 'By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.' The plan includes a strategy to disincentivize states from aggressively regulating AI technology. It recommends that federal agencies 'consider a state's AI regulatory climate when making funding decisions and limit funding if the state's AI regulatory regimes may hinder the effectiveness of that funding or award.' Trump's Republican administration had supported a different proposal in Congress to block states from passing any AI laws for 10 years, but the Senate defeated it earlier this month. Who benefits from Trump's AI action plan? There are sharp debates on how to regulate AI, even among the influential venture capitalists who have been debating it on their favorite medium: the podcast. While some Trump backers, particularly Andreessen, have advocated an 'accelerationist' approach that aims to speed up AI advancement with minimal regulation, Sacks has described himself as taking a middle road of techno-realism. 'Technology is going to happen. Trying to stop it is like ordering the tides to stop. If we don't do it, somebody else will,' Sacks said on the 'All-In' podcast. On Tuesday, more than 100 groups, including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates, signed a resolution opposing Trump's embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a 'People's AI Action Plan' that would 'deliver first and foremost for the American people.' Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump's plan to come 'straight from Big Tech's mouth.' 'Every time we say, 'What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?' they're going to say, 'But what about China?'' she said in a call with reporters Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House's argument that the industry is overregulated and fight to preserve 'baseline protections for the public' as AI technology advances.
