Facebook Loses Virtual-Reality Innovator
May 06 2016 - 8:00AM
Dow Jones News
Facebook Inc. will soon lose a high-profile player in its
virtual-reality push.
Mary Lou Jepsen, head of display technology for Facebook's
Oculus VR division, said Thursday that she plans to step down in
August to work on medical technology and help cure diseases.
An Oculus spokeswoman confirmed the move.
"We wish Mary Lou all the best as she pursues her passion to
change the world with next-generation medical technologies," the
company said. "We're very excited to see what she invents
next."
Facebook hired Ms. Jepsen a little more than a year ago from the
advanced-projects lab at Alphabet Inc.'s Google.
Before that, Ms. Jepsen co-founded three startups around display
technology. She also co-founded the One Laptop Per Child project,
an ultimately unsuccessful effort to get low-cost laptops into the
hands of millions of children in developing countries.
Ms. Jepsen announced her plans during a keynote address at an
event in Santa Clara, Calif., hosted by the nonprofit Anita Borg
Institute for Women in Technology.
"I have decided to leave Facebook and Oculus to cure diseases
with new imagery technology," Ms. Jepsen said, according to remarks
tweeted by the nonprofit.
Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 for about $2 billion. Oculus
launched its Rift virtual-reality headset earlier this year.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 06, 2016 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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