ByteDance Scales Back XR Investment with Significant Pico Layoffs
Overview:
ByteDance’s Virtual Reality (VR) arm PICO has publicly confirmed plans to lay off 23% of its workforce, or about 300 employees, after it released an internal notice on November 7, 2023, announcing layoffs and an organizational restructuring. As part of the restructuring, PICO will retain the core hardware R&D team comprising about 500 engineers. The Mobile OS team will be separated from PICO and merged into ByteDance’s middleware platform due to which the team will be excluded from the layoff count. Meanwhile, other PICO departments such as Sales, Marketing, and Content Center are likely to face significant reductions. Consequently, the number of employees leaving PICO will likely surpass the publicly announced 23%. PICO reiterates that the layoffs and restructuring are not a sign of giving up on the XR business, but rather a necessary step to focus on core technologies for sustainable development in the sector.
In this report, we will analyze the factors influencing PICO's decision and provide a forecast for its near-term development.
...Existing Subscriber?
Sign in to continue reading
New to Counterpoint?
Register to our service
Category
Industry
Emerging technologies
Report Type
Report
Contact us
Author
Flora Tang
Flora is a Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, based in Hong Kong. With over nine years of experience in the mobile industry, she specializes in analyzing the consumer electronics market and the Chinese supply chain. Flora has held various roles in the market intelligence and business strategy functions with leading Chinese smartphone OEMs, internet company and telecom operator. She initially joined Counterpoint Research in 2017 but later moved on to play key roles in OPPO’s international business strategy in 2021 and HONOR’s corporate strategy planning in 2022. Flora has since returned to Counterpoint, where she now serves a broader array of global technology players. Academically, Flora holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Sun Yat-Sen University and a master’s degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
