The acquisition will give Snap many of the components to create glasses that people can wear and then see computer-generated imagery overlaid on top of the real world.
Snap confirmed to CNBC Friday the deal is worth about $500 million in cash and stock, with about half paid upfront in stock. Snap will pay the remainder in cash or stock in two years. The Verge first reported on the acquisition.
Shares of Snap were up .75% on Friday morning.
WaveOptics creates some of the parts that people look through while wearing the glasses, like waveguides, which are sort of like little windows you look through that show the computer-generated imagery, and projectors that direct light at the waveguides. It also makes and sells full solutions, called modules, which include the waveguides and projectors mounted to frames.
See the full story here: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/21/snap-buys-augmented-reality-company-waveoptics-in-500-million-deal.html