Facebook's latest billion-dollar-plus acquisition is virtual reality gaming headset maker Oculus VR (and its vibrant developer community).
Facebook is purchasing Oculus VR, maker of virtual reality gaming headset Oculus Rift, for $2 billion--just weeks after the social networking company acquired WhatsApp for $16 billion. The acquisition bolsters Facebook as a major player in the gaming sphere, and also gives the company access to a staff of massively talented engineers. While there might be lots of jokes about Facebook pokes in 3-D, this purchase is serious business: The acquisition of such cutting-edge hardware strengthens Facebook's image as an agile technology player, and brings with it a vibrant external developer ecosystem eager to develop for the Oculus platform.