‘Supply Chain Chatter’ Prevalent About Vizio as LeEco Takeover Target, IHS Says

Vizio, subject of much industry chatter as a possible LeEco takeover target (see 1607130053), was second only to Samsung in North American TV unit share for Q1, the latest quarter for which data are available for public release, Paul Gagnon, IHS market director-TV sets research, emailed us Wednesday. Vizio controlled 21.3 percent market share to Samsung’s 28.1 percent, Gagnon said. As for news that LeEco is bidding to buy Vizio for upwards of $1.5 billion, “there have been no official announcements I am aware of, but I have heard similar supply chain chatter over the last week,” Gagnon said. “We are still researching what’s going on.” William Wang, Vizio's founder, chairman and CEO, owns about 55 percent, according to the company’s nearly year-old S-1 SEC filing (see 1507260001), and so would be the biggest financial beneficiary of a sale to LeEco. Under Vizio’s yet-to-be-consummated initial public offering, since Wang as an individual will own more than half the “voting power” of common shares after the IPO, the company would qualify to operate under SEC rules as a “controlled company” if it ever went public, the filing said. That classification would exempt Vizio from key SEC corporate governance rules, including the requirement that Vizio’s board be composed of a majority of independent directors, the filing said.