In a big announcement, former Xiaomi Global VP Hugo Barra has decided to join Facebook to lead its VR effort. He made this announcement on the social network through a post. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also welcomed him to the company.
Earlier this week, Barra announced that he is stepping down from his post and moving back to the US to lead a startup inside another startup.
Joining Facebook as VP of virtual reality (VPVR!) to lead Team @Oculus. So excited! Mark posted about it here: https://t.co/kYgIniSQiMpic.twitter.com/7fYTkniykr
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) January 26, 2017
He will lead the Oculus division inside the company. His official title will be the vice president of Virtual Reality. Barra worked in Xiaomi from 2013, prior to that he was leading the Android team at Google from 2010.
Xiaomi introduced its VR headset last year which was a better build of Google Cardboard. While Google has accelerated its VR effort by launching the Daydream project. Facebook is set to spend more than $3 billion on its VR wing Oculus in the coming years as revealed by Mark Zuckerberg in the latest lawsuit.
Barra has a very dynamic personality as shown by him in the previous companies during the phone launches. He is respected in the tech community widely and it'd be very interesting to see his approach for the VR wing of Facebook.