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Delay on Close of Vizio-LeEco Deal Raises Questions

Vizio Inc.’s pending $2 billion sale to Chinese conglomerate LeEco failed to close by year-end, indicating a potential wrinkle in a deal that still needs final approval from Chinese regulators.

LeEco and Vizio representatives have maintained the transaction would close by the end of 2016 since it was first announced in late July. It’s been approved by U.S. regulators, according to online trade publication Recode.

Vizio spokesperson Katie Kotarak more recently told the Business Journal that “unfortunately, Vizio is not able to comment on the deal, which is still in process.”

The delay isn’t surprising, considering the strained regulatory environment between China and the U.S. in the past few years. Regulators in both countries have taken a more critical look at acquisitions and investment between them, holding up transactions for months in some cases and nixing them altogether in others.

President-elect Donald Trump has taken a confrontational tone regarding trade and currency issues with the world’s most populous country, which could further complicate matters.

The deal first raised concerns among analysts in November as chatter picked up that LeEco hit a cash crunch due to expanding product lines and markets.

Vizio founder William Wang under the deal would cede his role there and become chairman and chief executive of the company’s developing data business, Inscape, which would spin out and operate as a separate privately owned company based in OC.

Vizio was OC’s sixth largest private company last year based on $3.5 billion in sales in 2015.

New Realities

Irvine-based software maker EON Reality Inc. is partnering with Lehman College in New York City to establish a virtual reality center in the city that never sleeps.

The Interactive Digital Center, part of Lehman’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, will train new virtual- and augmented-reality professionals and help develop applications for the student curriculum.

The project’s first phase will include a development lab for professional training. Students will embark on a year-long program divided between three months of classroom training and seven months of project-based learning and work for real customers.

The digital center, located at Lehman’s campus in the Bronx, will open in the second quarter and is accepting applications.

The emerging augmented and virtual reality segments, one of the hottest areas in tech, are forecast to hit about $120 billion in sales through products and services by 2020, according to Menlo Park-based consultancy Digi-Capital. The lion’s share of that, or roughly $90 billion, is projected to be generated from augmented reality.

The Business Journal last year reported that EON is investing $20 million to establish an Interactive Digital Center in Atizapan in the state of Mexico. The campus will produce virtual and augmented reality content and train future professionals in the hopes of creating well-paid jobs in a region with one of the lowest literacy rates in Mexico.

EON’s annual revenue is about $100 million.

Devil Turns 20

Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc. is running special promotions in several of its video games to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its “Diablo” franchise, which was first released on New Year’s Eve 1996.

Gamers for a limited time can access special in-game events and goodies in “Diablo III,” “Heroes of the Storm,” “Hearthstone,” “Overwatch,” “StarCraft II,” and “World of Warcraft” that pay homage to the hit fantasy role-playing game.

Blizzard is Orange County’s largest software maker, with about 2,000 local employees and 2015 revenue of $1.56 billion.

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