HTC to spin off VR business

(htcvive.com)HTC VR business is going to be spun off into separate unit

HTC, the Taiwanese company, has over several years concentrated on its smartphone business. But over time, its priorities have been changing as it developed the HTC Vive virtual reality headset. Before the headset launched this year, there were rumors that the unit would be spun off into a separate division but they were soon denied. Recently however, this rumor was confirmed by a top executive in the company and some details were provided about the separate business division.

Android Headlines states that the recent news that HTC is planning to spin off its virtual reality unit into a separate division came when the company was holding its shareholders meeting. In this meeting which took place in Taipei, Chia-lin Chang, the company's president for global sales, stated that it was planning an independent company for the VR business. However, he made it clear that this particular company would function as a "wholly-owned subsidiary of HTC."

As expected, this announcement of the VR business being spun off did not find a lot of approval from shareholders as HTC declared a loss of $478 million dollars this year. This financial loss suffered by the company is worse than last year, which saw it getting a modest profit. However, even with the launch of a much lauded HTC 10 handset this year and the extremely popular HTC Vive, it is likely that the company is going to have a tough time ahead.

Coming to the VR business being spun off, SlashGear states that it is likely that HTC wants to do this because it wants more investors and partners. It is also likely that as the new VR subsidiary is formed, shareholders in HTC will start losing control over it as stakes are sold to partners. However, for now at least, Chang has tried to assuage shareholders by stating that they would retain control over majority of its shares. More importantly, earlier this year when the rumor broke about a spinoff of the VR business, the company denied it outright.

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