ByteDance to Split Real Estate Trading Business Xingfuli
ThePaper reported on Wednesday that, ByteDance will split its real estate business Xingfuli. At present, Xingfuli has started a financing plan and will introduce external strategic shareholders as it develops independently. In this regard, ByteDance later confirmed the news.
According to public information, Xingfuli was founded in 2018 after being carved out of Toutiao’s real estate business. The company is an online real estate trading platform. In terms of first-hand properties, the company’s own representatives take customers on a tour of the location. For second-hand properties, the platform cooperates with some estate agents such as Maitian Real Estate Agency.
The report shows that ByteDance believes that the real estate business emphasizes offline services and its correlation with ByteDance’s main business is not that close. As a result, the company wants to spin-off and and develop Xingfuli on its own. At present, the split plan is still under discussion and potential investors include Sequoia China, CICC, and industrial capital firms such as Vanke and Country Garden.
In fact, ByteDance is no stranger to the real estate industry. Its founder Zhang Yiming and current CEO Liang Rubo had previously cooperated to found Jiujiufang, a real estate information platform.
SEE ALSO: As Zhang Yiming Leaves ByteDance’s Global Board, Liang Rubo and Eight Core Executives Step Forward
At present, ByteDance is undergoing organizational adjustment and strategic review. Its business and organization is evaluated as overstaffed, and the company aims to increase business innovation and improve management. In September this year, ByteDance also confirmed that it was selling its securities business.
Previously, ByteDance held a general meeting for all of its employees, at which it was mentioned that the advertising revenue of domestic business (excluding e-commerce business) in ByteDance stopped growing in the past six months. The advertising business, however, was the main source of its revenue. The revenue from Douyin has stopped growing, while Toutiao’s revenue is close to losing money.
