HTC lays off large portion of US branch, smartphone and VR divisions merge (Updated)

Update (02/23): Android Authority has received an official response from HTCregarding its layoffs:

We have recently brought our smartphone and VR businesses under common leadership in each region.  Today we announced a restructure in North America for the HTCSmartphone business that will centralize the reporting structure within the region. In doing so, there have been some employee reductions to align the businesses and empower the teams to share more resources.

Original post (02/21): HTC‘s smartphone ambitions took another significant hit today as the Taiwanese company laid off a large number of employees from its US arm, reported Digital Trends.

A source close to the matter said anywhere between a few dozen and 100 employees received the pink slip. The exact number is not known, though enough people were laid off that only employees for HTCGlobal remain in the US office.

HTC confirmed the layoffs with Digital Trends and said it was part of a restructuring in North America for its smartphone business. HTCalso confirmed it merged its smartphone and VR businesses in each region, but did not reveal any reasoning behind the decisions.

Android Authority reached out to HTCto re-confirm the moves and will update this post accordingly.

This comes at a bad time for HTC. The company reported poor sales figures for January, with revenues down 15 percent from December 2017 and down 27 percent year-over-year (YoY).

Most recently, HTCpresident of smartphone and connected devices business Chialin Chang resigned after being with the company for six years. Chang’s successor has not yet been named.

Not all is bad for HTC, as the company still has $1.1 billion in the bank from its deal with Google. It is not clear how HTCwill use that massive cash flow to turn things around, however.

It also does not help that HTCshipped out over 2,000 engineers as part of that deal.

The company’s investments in VR might be its safest bet for the time being, hence the merging of its smartphone and VR divisions. That being said, HTCfinds itself in dire straits as it looks to change its fortunes with the upcoming U12 and Desire 12.