Facebook's Copying Alphabet's "Other Bets" Strategy
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) restructured the company several years ago to separate its early stage businesses and moonshot investments -- or "other bets" -- from its well-established Google operations. It still makes practically all of its revenue and profits from Google's advertising business.
Similarly, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) generates about 98% of its revenue from advertising. But like Google, Facebook is looking for ways to diversify beyond advertising. The company bought Oculus in 2014, and it's launched several virtual reality (VR) products under the brand. It also started selling Portal devices last year for easy video chatting.
But Facebook has quietly launched its own "other bets" group -- the New Product Experimentation Team, or NPE Team -- as The New York Times' Mike Isaac uncovered. For now, the NPE Team is focused on mobile software, including the launches of Aux, a social music app, and Bump, a matchmaking app for students. But its mandate is to "build the future of Facebook, whatever that may look like," Isaac says.
Source Fool.com
