Editor’s Note
This article reports on Meta’s acquisition of a minority stake in eyewear manufacturer EssilorLuxottica, a move that signals a deepening partnership in the smart glasses space.
Multiple overseas media outlets have reported that Meta has acquired approximately 3% of the shares in eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica.
The two companies formed a partnership in 2019 and launched the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, equipped with dual 5MP cameras, in 2021. In 2023, they expanded with a second-generation model featuring the conversational assistant “Meta AI,” which enables control of functions and access to information. Following the success of these initiatives, they announced an expansion of their partnership in September 2024.
Meta invested approximately $3.5 billion (about 514.293 billion yen) in this purchase, resulting in a 3% shareholding. However, Bloomberg reported that Meta is considering further investments to gradually increase its stake to about 5% in the future.
The company is focusing on its smart glasses business, having announced the AI-enabled smart glasses “Oakley Meta HSTN,” co-developed with OAKLEY, in June of this year. In the same month, Korean media reported that Google would acquire about 4% of the shares in II COMBINED, which operates the Korean eyewear brand GENTLE MONSTER. These moves indicate that the smart glasses market is expected to rapidly gain momentum from 2025 onward.