Hugo Barra is now officially leading the virtual reality team in Oculus VR as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his new position. Barra left Xiaomi after more than three years working for the leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer.
Barra is appointed as VP of Virtual Reality at Facebook according to report from Financial Times. He left Xiaomi after three and a half year with the Chinese phone maker as a VP of International at Xiaomi and bring the brand to be recognized in the world.
Following Barra's arrival, Zuckerberg took his excitement to Facebook.
“Hugo Barra is joining Facebook to lead all of our virtual reality efforts, including our Oculus team,” Zuckerberg said in his post on Wednesday, Jan. 25
Zuckerberg is very excited to have Barra in the virtual reality team of Facebook. He said that he had known Barra for years since his tenure with Google and Android. Barra and Zuckerberg shared the same idea about the future of computing platform is in the augmented and virtual reality.
According to Ars Technica, Barra became well-known when he was the VP of Android at Google. He made a surpising decision when he decided to join Xiaomi in September 2013.
Xiaomi’s strategi move to recruit him into the company boosted the international recognition to Xiaomo. During his tenure in Xiaomi, he had increased the company’s prestige and making the Xiaomi become one of respectable brand in the Android phone landscape.
The Brazilian-born executive has brought Xiaomi to the higher level. After three and a half year in China, he returns to Silicon Valley to join the social media giant in a new quest at Facebook virtual reality unit Oculus VR. He is the most suitable replacement for Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe who is now working with the Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer to enhance Facebook back-end system.
Watch the CNET report regarding the departure of Hugo Barra from Xiaomi to return to Silicon Valley below: