Oculus Vacancy: Leading Manufacturer of Virtual Reality Software and Goggles Looking For Its New CEO

By Jack Bing - 15 Dec '16 13:17PM

Oculus, one of the leading manufacturers of virtual reality software and goggles, has an announcement. Their CEO has stepped down and their top post is now vacant.

Brendan Iribe, the co-founder of Oculus in 2012, announced that he will be stepping down from his role as CEO. Iribe first joined Oculus as the CEO in 2012 following its very successful Kickstarter campaign.

Iribe Set to Focus on Engineering and Product Development. Iribe has decided to step down so he can focus on Oculus' products and technology. He says he has missed his day-to-day processes of creating a brand new product.

The 37-year-old game programmer will go back to focusing on what he loves most - engineering and product development. He will be leading one of Oculus' two new divisions.

Oculus to Split Into Two Divisions. Oculus will now be splitting into two divisions: personal computer VR development and mobile phone VR development. Iribe will be heading the PC development group so he can focus more on the Oculus Rift. Jon Thomason, who joined Oculus earlier this summer, will be leading the mobile phone development group.

Virtual reality is now the obsession in Silicon Valley. The worldwide VR market in 2017 is projected to reach $5.4 billion.

Oculus' Rift VR headset was released in late March for $599. The company suffered from supply constraints resulting in a lot of pre-orders for months. The delay has cost Oculus some of its clout and customers.

Oculus & Facebook. Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey came under scrutiny when he donated to a pro-Donald Trump political organization. In September, Luckey admitted to donating $10,000 to Nimble America. After receiving widespread criticism, he said that he will no longer be making another donation to the organization.

There was no mention of Luckey in Iribe's announcement. Moreover, Facebook has already announced that Luckey will remain at Oculus in a new role that has yet to be announced.

Oculus was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. Iribe is confident that he and Thomason, together with Facebook Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mike Schroepfer, will work together to find a new CEO to lead Oculus.