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Published on
July 9, 2025
15 min read
EssilorLuxottica Stocks Surge as Meta Invests $3.5 Billion in the Ray-Ban Glasses Maker
EssilorLuxottica stocks soared on July 9 following reports that social media giant Meta had bought a 3% stake in the Ray-Ban glasses maker. Meta’s investment in EssilorLuxottica amounted to $3.5 billion. According to CNBC, the share price surge saw EssilorLuxottica stocks rise by 5.4% to trade at 252 Euros. The smart glasses maker is listed in Paris.
Biggest Gainer
EssilorLuxottica’s market response to Meta’s investment made the company the biggest gainer on Europe’s STOXX 600 index. The US tech giant plans to increase Meta investment in the eyewear brand in order to grow its stake to 5% over time.
Should Meta confirm the investment, it will be a strong indication of Meta’s progress in the wearable technology industry. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has prioritized this industry and considers it an opportunity for the social media giant to build its product line.
“The investment should be read as a vote of confidence in EssilorLuxottica in the smart-glasses opportunity,” Analysts at Bernstein said.
EssilorLuxottica first partnered with Meta in 2019. The collaboration between the two companies has led to the production of two versions of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The first version was launched in 2021. However, it was the second generation model that was unveiled in 2023 that attracted greater success for the two companies.
In 2024, Meta and EssilorLuxottica confirmed holding talks on potential investment into the smart glass maker. This was after the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta was negotiating for a 5% stake in the French-Italiano company. In the month of September, Zuckerberg made a symbolic gesture to strengthen Meta’s partnership with EssilorLuxottica.
Meta’s Wearable Tech Investment
Adding AI capabilities to wearable technology can attract new customers to Meta. Earlier this year, Meta said that it had partnered with another EssilorLuxottica brand called Oakley to unveil AI-enabled smart glasses. This move expanded its inroads into the wearable tech industry following its success with Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
According to EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri, the company had sold about 2 million pairs of Meta Ray-Ban glasses by February 2025. This 2023 version of smart glasses features Meta AI voice assistant. It also comes with identification capabilities that allow users who tether their glasses to smartphones to city landmarks with ease.
Users can also get recipes when interacting with ingredients and record as well as send voice messagesFacebook Messenger or Whatsapp. The smart glasses manufacturer said it planned to boost its annual smart glasses production to 10 million units by the end of 2025.
Last month, the two companies announced plans to release new versions of AI-enabled smart glasses under the Prada and Oakley brands. The new Oakley Meta smartglasses will come with open-ear speakers, a hands-free high-resolution camera, Meta AI capabilities, and water resistance features.
Focus on AI
Meta is already investing billions of dollars to strengthen its AI expertise and infrastructure. The social media giant has put together a team of highly qualified AI experts to lead its AI breakthrough efforts and run its newly established Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL).
Meta is looking to accelerate the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) through the MSL. Through this unit, the social media giant expects to enhance its revenue streams through a range of tools including smart glasses, image-to-video advertising tools, and Meta’s AI app.
Last month, Meta invested $14.3 billion in data labelling startup Scale AI for a 49% stake. The investment in the AI startup saw the company’s CEO Alexandr Wang join Meta’s AI team. Wang will lead the Meta superintelligence unit as the Chief AI Officer.
Besides Wang, Meta’s team of AI specialists include Former CEO of GitHub Nat Friedman and OpenAI alumni Shengkia Zhao, Juahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. Others are Pei Sun and Jack Rae from Google DeepMind and Joel Pobar from Anthropic.
