Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Revenue Triples, Boosting Meta’s $3.5 Billion Investment in EssilorLuxottica

Okay, so let’s just dive right into this – EssilorLuxottica dropped their second-quarter earnings, and surprise, surprise, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are kinda killing it. Like, they tripled their revenue since last year. Tripled! That’s wild.

These snazzy glasses hit the scene in 2023 – fresh, shiny, the whole deal. They’re the second-gen babies, and they do all sorts of cool stuff. You can jam to your tunes, snap pics, capture videos, and even do a little internet browsing thanks to Meta AI. Basically, they’re like a smartphone plastered to your face for $300. Not my thing, but hey, some folks are clearly loving it.

Meta’s so psyched about this that they’re keeping this tango going with EssilorLuxottica until 2030. Plus, they’re throwing a cheeky $3.5 billion investment their way, which is no pocket change.

Oh, and if you care about pics – there’s an image out there somewhere of these glasses, all glossy and professional. Meta and EssilorLuxottica probably paid top dollar for those promo snaps.

Meanwhile, EssilorLuxottica’s shouting from the rooftops that their Ray-Ban gadgets are gaining steam. They’re making cash left and right. But, oddly enough, this doesn’t even account for their new Oakley Meta HTSN glasses. Those bad boys are up for grabs at $500 for a snazzy ‘Limited Edition’ version. I guess they’re not too keen on giving away all the numbers, but back in February, they bragged about selling 2 million units since their 2023 debut. Not bad, huh?

CEO Francesco Milleri and deputy Paul du Saillant are all “high five!” about their first half of the year. Doesn’t even matter that the global economy is doing the cha-cha off a cliff. They managed to bump their revenue by 5.5% to a chunky €14 billion, or around $16.15 billion, even with things getting dicey out there.

They also pointed out some annoyances – US customs duties throwing a wrench in the works since some April notice. Oh, and the good ol’ US dollar doing a nosedive compared to other currencies. Because, why not, right?

Anyway, yeah – that’s the scoop. Glasses are in, money’s flowing, and the world keeps spinning a little crazier than before.