Facebook to acquire virtual-reality firm for $2B

Facebook Inc. announced Tuesday that it will acquire Oculus VR Inc., which makes virtual reality headsets, in a deal valued at $2 billion.

Facebook said it plans to extend Oculus' gaming applications into new areas including communications, entertainment and education. 

The deal comprises $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

Oculus makes a virtual reality headset called the Oculus Rift, which has drawn much attention from video game developers but has not yet been released.

"Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a news release . "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate."

"We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways,” said a news release issued by Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR. “It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning."

Al Jazeera and wire services