Pico Interactive and Tiktok’s parent company ByteDance recently announced it would shut down its investment department to reduce indirect spending and strengthen the firm’s ever-growing business ventures, reports revealed on Wednesday.
In a statement to CNBC, a Bytedance spokesperson said it would close the investment branch to “strengthen the focus of the business, [and] reduce investments with low connection (to the main business).”
The closure would also assist Bytedance in its brand and advertising campaigns by “strengthening the coordination between strategic research and the business,” according to the spokesperson.
Additionally, Bytedance’s new vision enables the Beijing-based firm to reorganise its employees across various subsidiary technology ventures.
The representative continued, stating Pico’s “comprehensive suite of software and hardware technologies, as well as the talent and deep expertise of the team” would allow the firm to seamlessly develop new VR solutions.
ByteDance’s latest move has also led to the company slashing around 100 jobs, which will see major senior management team members, including Team Lead Zhao Pengyuan, reshuffled as part of its “ongoing adjustment.”
In November of last year, Bytedance announced that it would split into six businesses to manage parts of its new corporate structure such as VR headset distribution, enterprise-grade remote communication, and peer-to-peer video sharing opportunities.
The massive enterprise is worth roughly $140 billion USD and along with TikTok and Pico, Bytedance owns technology firms such as Douyin, Toutiao, Xigua, Lark, BaBe, and many more.
Btyedance’s Virtual Journey and Reshuffle
The news comes after Bytedance took its first steps into the virtual reality (VR) market by purchasing Pico Interactive in August last year for roughly $775 million USD.
The buyout would support Pico’s latest hardware gains, the firm also bought mobile app developer Moonton for approximately $4 billion USD.
Months earlier, Bytedance released an internal staff memo revealing Zhang Yiming would step down as the firm’s chief executive, with then Co-Founder Liang Rubo taking over. The company also announced it will relocate its headquarters to Hong Kong by 2022.
