facebook has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire oculus virtual reality, for a total of approximately $2 billion. the menlo-park based social media giant plans to extend oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas. the new acquisition hopes to make facebook a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform. ‘mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,’ said facebook founder and CEO, mark zuckerberg. ‘oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.’

The 3rd largest ever, only behind VISA and Italian utility company ENEL. FB kicked off opening bell at $42/share, the biggest opening for a tech company ever.