The sale, to Virbela’s cofounders Alex Howland and Erik Hill, closed at the end of November. It comes at a time when virtual worlds and the metaverse have waned as a topic of excitement.
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EXp World Holdings, parent to eXp Realty, has sold off the Virbela platform that created its virtual metaverse environment, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing states that the sale closed on Nov. 29. Virbela cofounders Alex Howland and Erik Hill — who also served as Virbela’s president and vice president, respectively — acquired the company from eXp.
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Howland and Hill had continued with Virbela after eXp acquired the company in 2018. The filing reveals that in exchange for the firm they founded, the two executives waived a total of $252,100 in severance that they were entitled to get after being terminated from eXp. Their terminations were completed when the Virbela sale closed.
However, the SEC filing does not mention any other payments Howland and Hill made to re-acquire Virbela.
In a statement to Inman Friday, eXp said that the transaction “ensures that the platform remains in the hands of its visionary leaders, who are well-positioned to explore innovative ways to evolve and monetize the application-based software.”
“The key financial terms included the waiver of severance by the founders and the assumption of ongoing liabilities by the buyer entity,” the statement adds.
News of the sale was first reported in early…