Red Camera Parent Company Acquired by Italian Eyewear Firm

Oakley Inc., the parent company of the Red One 4K electronic cinema camera that drew long lines at NAB2007, announced this week that it is being sold to Italian eyewear company Luxottica Group SpA.

Oakley is better known outside the video industry as marketers of expensive sports eyewear. Jim Jannard, founder, chairman and principal shareholder of Oakley, has been the “Pied Piper” of the Red One camera initiative, bringing a high-quality 4K camera to the film industry that is priced at $17,500. The company has taken over a thousand deposits from potential Red One owners to fund development of the camera, and finally had working prototypes to show in April in Las Vegas.

The joint press release on the sale made no mention of Red One. As to Jannard’s future plans, the release does quote him as saying: “Given the opportunities in front of us, I wrote Mr. Del Vecchio [Luxottica Group chairman] this morning indicating my intent to make an investment in the company after the transaction closes.”