Verizon acquires Jaunt XR

To add augmented and virtual reality smarts to its media division, Verizon has acquired Jaunt XR.

 

“We are thrilled with Verizon’s acquisition of Jaunt’s technology,” said Mitzi Reaugh, CEO of Jaunt XR. “The Jaunt team has built leading-edge software and we are excited for its next chapter with Verizon.”

 

Verizon’s troubled media division which was under strain in last few months will be joined by Jaunt XR. The idea behind this division was to create a competitor to Google and Facebook to secure a slice of the billions of dollars spent on digital advertising. On the surface it is a reasonable strategy, but like so many good ideas, the execution was somewhat wanting.

 

In last quarter, the media division reported $1.8 billion in revenues. This was down 2.9% from the previous year and accounted for only 2% of the total revenues brought in across the group.

 

With Jaunt XR brought into the media family, new elements could be introduced to the portfolio.