Facebook gets antitrust approval to buy maker of Oculus Rift virtual reality headset

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Social network giant Facebook Inc has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Oculus VR Inc, a two-year-old maker of virtual reality goggles, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

Facebook said on March 25 that it planned to buy Oculus for $2 billion in its first-ever hardware deal. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said at the time that the proposed transaction reflected his company's desire to bet on "the platforms of tomorrow."

The deal was on a list of several proposed transactions that have been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice and FTC. The commission puts out an updated list several times a week.

The Oculus buy was one of several high-profile purchases by Facebook, which recently won antitrust approval to acquire Whatsapp, an instant messaging service for smartphones, for $19 billion. It also bought the photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012.

Facebook was at $66.97 per share, down 1 percent, in late-morning trading.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tom Brown)

[Image via AFP]