HTC is spinning off its HTC Vive and VR business into a subsidiary

After months of rumours, HTC has announced it will be spinning off its virtual reality (VR) business in to a subsidiary wholly owned by the company.

According to Taiwan’s DigiTimes, HTC’s chief financial officer and president for global sales Chialin Chang announced at the company’s latest general shareholder’s meeting that the establishment of an independent VR subsidiary will help HTC build alliances with, or solicit equity investment from, potential strategic partners.

“VR is a very important technology for HTC, and it is not difficult for HTC to generate profits from the technology as there will be a proliferation of VR applications in the education, healthcare, shopping and entertainment sectors over the next 10 years,” said HTC’s CEO Cher Wang.

Spin-off rumours began in January 2016 following a report from the Commercial Times in Taiwan and at the time were denied by the company, stating, “Recent media reports in Taiwan, such as by United Evening News, stating that Cher Wang is planning to spin off HTC’s VR operations into an independent entity that will be wholly owned by Wang is incorrect.”

However, in May it was reported that Cher Wang had done just that by opening a new company wholly owned by herself with a board of directors that included her husband and HTC co-founder Cho Ho-tu. In the wake of that report, stock for HTC plummeted in Taiwan, as investors worried that HTC would lose its most promising division, which the company itself has acknowledged is now becoming a chief priority.

Now that the full truth has been revealed, however, and it’s clear HTC will still be very much in control of its burgeoning VR business, its stock has sharply increased on the Taiwanese exchange.

Related reading: Specs surface for HTC’s rumoured budget Nexus smartphone “Sailfish”

[source]DigiTimes[/source]