(Yicai Global) Nov. 24 -- Chinese social media group ByteDance plans to hive off its real estate listing information platform to focus on its core businesses, according to The Paper.

The move to make Xingfuli independent is the first time that Shanghai-based ByteDance has attempted to spin off a business since it was set up in 2012, the report said. Founded in 2018, Xingfuli’s predecessor was the real estate channel of ByteDance’s news aggregator Toutiao. It has since grown into a separate service.

Potential investors include Sequoia China and China International Capital Corporation as well as real estate giants Vanke and Country Garden, it said, citing a source familiar with the matter. ByteDance has not yet officially responded to the news.

Co-founder Liang Rubo took over the chairmanship of ByteDance from Zhang Yiming on Nov. 2 and subsequently announced the consolidation of its apps and operations into six new businesses units to focus on developing its core businesses.

In addition to the previous sale of the company’s securities business, ByteDance will sell and spin off non-core interests including its automobile and health information platforms, the source told The Paper.

After years of rapid development, there are signs that ByteDance’s growth is slowing. According to an earlier report by Shanghai Securities News, the firm said at an internal meeting on Nov. 18 that growth in domestic advertising revenue had stalled in the past six months.

ByteDance will make a series of business adjustments to achieve long-term breakthroughs, the report added.

Editor: Peter Thomas