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HTC is to resume trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) tomorrow, according to an announcement issued by the TWSE. Trading of HTC shares was temporarily halted before today’s announcement of the company’s billion-dollar deal with Google.
The duo revealed that Google would acquire HTC’s “Powered by HTC” team for $1.1 billion, effectively bringing the Taiwanese tech titan’s mobile phone team under Google’s wing as the latter looks to bolster its hardware ambitions. In a separate deal, Google also gained a “non-exclusive” license for HTC intellectual property.
Rumors of some form of acquisition had been circulating for weeks, and yesterday the biggest sign that a deal was imminent came when HTC revealed it would be halting trading in its shares today.
HTC was founded in 1997, and its shares hit a peak of around NT$1,300 ($43 USD) in 2011, but they’ve been more or less in free fall since and now sit at just under NT$70 ($2.30 USD). Though HTC plans to bring at least one more branded smartphone to market, it will now be able to focus on other facets of its business, which include virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI).
