One Reddit user said Zuck was visiting Oculus’ offices a month ago – and everyone ignored him
The latest addition to Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook empire has gotten many of Reddit's users very heated up.
A part of the messageboard dedicated to Oculus Rift, which the social media giant announced it would be acquiring yesterday, is filled with anti-Facebook entries.
Maybe that's why one user was ignored when he reported that the Facebook founder and CEO had been seen visiting the offices of the virtual reality startup one month ago.
Reddit user threewolfmtn said that while his "friend works in the same building as Oculus, and he ran into Mark Zuckerberg taking the elevator to Oculus' floor."
He asks whether other users of the messageboard believe think that "he was just checking it out? Or is there somethign [sic] more devious going on?"
Almost all of the earliest responses were dismissive, with one user joking that it was "just Mark trying to figure out new ways to jam his social network into more teeneagers [sic] heads."
The deal announced yesterday has frustrated many who wanted the startup to stay independent. But when the offer came it was too good to resist, with Zuckerberg paying $2bn in cash and stock.
Oculus Rift's founder, Palmer Luckey, has been defending the move on Reddit himself. He insists that "we won't change" and that "if anything, our hardware and software wil get even more open". Rift may even come down in price as a result.
Credit Suisse call it Facebook's "second blockbuster acquisiton of the year", and identify it as strategically similar to the Zuckerberg's call to buy Whatsapp for $19bn last month.
Analysts at the bank say that "the deal is part of the social-networking company's vast ambition to connect people across all kinds of devices and modes of communication."
That's seemingly what Zuckerberg has in mind. He says in a post on his personal Facebook profile that Oculus Rift "is really a new communication platform", and that it will enable users to feel "truly present".
Many analysts agreed that picking up Whatsapp was a great call, but investors are now becoming used to software startups with hefty price tags. It's been a long time since we've seen large amounts of money spent on infant hardware companies.
Facebook shares are expected to close down when the NYSE opens this afternoon.