Brendan Iribe
Brendan Trexler Iribe (born August 12, 1979) is an American entrepreneur and software developer best known as a co-founder and the first chief executive officer of Oculus VR, the company that produced the Oculus Rift head-mounted display.[1] He led Oculus through its 2012 founding and its 2014 acquisition by Facebook (now Meta) for about 2 billion dollars, then stepped down as chief executive in 2016 to lead the company's personal computer virtual reality effort before leaving Facebook in 2018.[2]
Early life and education
Iribe was born on August 12, 1979, in Maryland.[1] He enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park to study computer science, attending during the 1997 and 1998 academic terms, and left after two semesters to work as a freelance programmer.[1][3] Early in his career he worked as a programmer, including on the user interface for the strategy video game Civilization IV.[1]
Scaleform
In the early 2000s Iribe co-founded Scaleform with Michael Antonov, a company that developed user interface middleware for video games.[1] The technology was used in a large number of commercial game titles. Autodesk acquired Scaleform in 2011, after which Iribe moved on to other work in the games industry.[1][4]
Gaikai
Before Oculus, Iribe worked at Gaikai, a cloud gaming company. He left Gaikai in August 2012 to join Oculus.[1] Sony Computer Entertainment acquired Gaikai in 2012.[4]
Oculus VR
Oculus VR was founded in 2012 to commercialize the head-mounted display designs of Palmer Luckey.[5] In August 2012, Iribe joined as chief executive officer, with Luckey continuing as the designer of the hardware and the public face of the company.[5] Iribe is generally described as one of the co-founders of Oculus, alongside Luckey, Michael Antonov, Nate Mitchell, Andrew Reisse, and Jack McCauley.[6]
Oculus had launched a Kickstarter campaign for a developer kit version of the Oculus Rift on August 1, 2012, which closed in September having raised roughly 2.4 million dollars, well above its 250,000 dollar goal.[7] As chief executive, Iribe led the company through this growth period, including outside venture funding and the shipment of early development kits to backers and developers.[7]
Facebook acquisition
On March 25, 2014, Facebook announced an agreement to acquire Oculus VR for a deal valued at approximately 2 billion dollars. The terms included 400 million dollars in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock valued at about 1.6 billion dollars, plus an additional earn-out of up to 300 million dollars in cash and stock tied to performance milestones.[8] The transaction closed in July 2014.[9] Iribe continued as chief executive of Oculus after it became part of Facebook.[10]
Transition to PC VR
On December 13, 2016, Iribe stepped down as chief executive of Oculus and moved into a role leading the company's personal computer virtual reality group, which focused on the Rift, research, and computer vision.[10][11] Iribe said the move reflected a desire to return to hands-on product work, stating that as the company grew he had missed "the deep, day-to-day involvement" in building new products.[10] As part of the reorganization, Oculus was split into separate personal computer and mobile virtual reality teams, and Hugo Barra later joined Facebook in January 2017 as vice president of virtual reality overseeing Oculus.[12]
Departure from Facebook
On October 22, 2018, Iribe announced that he was leaving Facebook after six years with Oculus.[2][13] In a public statement he described the moment as a time to "recharge, reflect and be creative," and said it would be his first extended break in more than twenty years.[2][13] Citing sources close to the matter, TechCrunch reported that his departure followed the cancellation of a next-generation "Rift 2" personal computer headset whose development he had been leading, and that he and Facebook had differing views on the future direction of Oculus.[2] Facebook said it was continuing to plan for future versions of the Rift and declined to discuss specific product roadmap details.[2] His exit was part of a broader series of departures by founders of companies Facebook had acquired.[13]
University of Maryland gift
In September 2014, the University of Maryland announced a 31 million dollar gift from Iribe, an amount the university described at the time as the largest in its history.[4][14] Of the total, 30 million dollars went toward the construction of a new computer science building and 1 million dollars established the Brendan Iribe Scholarship in Computer Science.[4] The building, named the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering, was designed for work in fields including virtual reality, augmented reality, computer vision, and robotics, and it opened on the College Park campus.[4][3] The same announcement included additional gifts from Oculus co-founder Michael Antonov and from Iribe's mother, Elizabeth Iribe.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Brendan Iribe". 2026-06-01. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Iribe.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Constine, Josh (2018-10-22). "Oculus co-founder is leaving Facebook after cancellation of 'Rift 2' headset". https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/22/oculus-co-founder-is-leaving-facebook-after-cancellation-of-rift-2-headset/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Recognizing Our Donors: Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering". 2019-04-01. https://iribe.umd.edu/recognition.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "College Receives $38M for New Computer Science Building, Scholarships, Endowed Professorships". 2014-09-12. https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/news/college-receives-38m-new-computer-science-building-scholarships-endowed.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rubin, Peter (2014-07-03). "The inside story of the Oculus Rift, VR's singularity moment". https://www.wired.com/story/inside-oculus/.
- ↑ Tran, Edmond (2019-05-10). "All Six Oculus Founders Have Now Left". https://www.gamespot.com/articles/all-six-oculus-founders-have-now-left/1100-6469097/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Souppouris, Aaron (2014-03-28). "Oculus Rift: From $2.4 million Kickstarter to $2 billion sale". https://www.engadget.com/2014-03-28-oculus-rift-from-2-4-million-kickstarter-to-2-billion-sale.html.
- ↑ "Facebook to Acquire Oculus". 2014-03-25. https://about.fb.com/news/2014/03/facebook-to-acquire-oculus/.
- ↑ Constine, Josh (2014-07-21). "Facebook's $2 Billion Acquisition Of Oculus Closes, Now Official". https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/21/facebooks-acquisition-of-oculus-closes-now-official/.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lumb, David (2016-12-13). "Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe steps down, will lead PC VR group". https://www.engadget.com/2016-12-13-oculus-ceo-brendan-iribe-steps-down.html.
- ↑ Constine, Josh (2016-12-13). "Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe steps down, will now lead PC-based VR division within company". https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/13/oculus-ceo-brendan-iribe-steps-down-will-now-lead-pc-based-vr-division-within-company/.
- ↑ Constine, Josh (2017-01-25). "Hugo Barra joins Facebook to lead its VR efforts including Oculus". https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/hugo-barra-joins-facebook-to-lead-its-vr-efforts-including-oculus/.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Roettgers, Janko (2018-10-22). "Oculus Co-Founder Brendan Iribe Is Leaving Facebook". https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/oculus-co-founder-brendan-iribe-is-leaving-facebook-1202988298/.
- ↑ "Brendan Iribe, Oculus CEO, Gives $31M for New University of Maryland Computer Science Building". 2014-09-12. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brendan-iribe-oculus-ceo-gives-31m-for-new-university-of-maryland-computer-science-building-274882781.html.