Facebook Appoints New VR Boss

Facebook has appointed a new leader for its virtual reality endeavors.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook that Hugo Barra, a former executive at smartphone company Xiaomi, will "lead all of [Facebook's virtual reality efforts," including Oculus.

"Hugo's in China right now, so here we are together in VR. It seems fitting," Zuckerberg said about the picture above that he shared on Facebook.

Before joining Xiaomi, Barra worked at Google where he helped developer the uber-popular Android operating system.

"Hugo shares my belief that virtual and augmented reality will be the next major computing platform," Zuckerberg said. "They'll enable us to experience completely new things and be more creative than ever before. Hugo is going to help build that future, and I'm looking forward to having him on our team."

According to Financial Times, Barra said this week that his constant travel and the smog levels in Beijing had taken a "huge toll on my life and started affecting my health."

In December, Oculus announced that CEO Brendan Iribe was stepping down to instead lead the Oculus PC VR team. At the time, the company said it was looking for a new leader for Oculus and it appears Barra is that person.

Facebook acquired Oculus for $2 billion in 2014. During his recent court appearance for the Oculus vs. ZeniMax case, Zuckerberg testified that the purchase price was actually closer to $3 billion when factoring in $700 million in retention bonuses and $300 million for incentives, according to The New York Times.