ByteDance Ltd has entered talks to buy out Chinese virtual reality (VR) headset manufacturer Pico Interactive in a bid to drive sales growth, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Thursday.
The ongoing talks have not finalised, the source told Bloomberg, with the report adding ByteDance and Pico Interactive have not immediately responded for comment on initial reports from local trade media.
If successful, the Beijing-based firms would see ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming enter the VR space against competitors such as Facebook, who acquired US headset maker Oculus in 2018.
Pico Interactive currently employs over 300 staff and sells headsets globally for both consumer and enterprise-level use cases.
The acquisition could signal fresh sources of revenues for the Chinese social media giant after building TikTok, one of the world’s most popular social media and video content platforms.
The news comes amid a massive 52.4 percent spike in global VR headset shipments year-on-year, according to an IDC report, which noted HTC VIVE Focus and Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 topped sales.
According to an analyst in the report, Facebook’s Oculus lineup lacked a customer presence in China, leaving “an opportunity for local brands as well as brands that can cater to businesses.”
