Buying a budget TV maker is not the most obvious way to sell more advertising. But when you are America’s biggest retailer and your share price is riding at a record high, you can afford to make a side bet or two.
Walmart pitched its $2.3bn acquisition of TV maker Vizio last month as a way to scale up its small but fast-growing advertising unit. At the moment, the retail titan mainly sells ads on its websites, apps and self-checkout screens in stores. Buying Vizio would give it more ways to sell ads through Vizio’s TV sets and free video streaming service.
Walmart’s weak M&A record invites scepticism. Ecommerce sites Jet.com, ModCloth, Moosejaw and Bonobos, plus video on demand service Vudu, are past Walmart conquests that have since been sold off or wound down.