There have been rumors recently that Google and HTC have been in talks for a potential acquisition. HTC hasn’t confirmed anything as yet but it has given a big indication that a “major announcement’ will be made tomorrow. HTC today announced that it will halt the trading of its shares tomorrow in anticipation of a major announcement.
It’s uncommon for a notice of halting trading to be sent out in advance. Trading is normally halted immediately after unfavorable news breaks and is used in situations where it’s considered prudent to prevent shareholders from being scared by the unfavorable news and tripping over themselves to dump the stock.
It was reported earlier this month that HTC was in advanced stages of negotiations with Google. The internet search giant is reportedly interested in an acquisition. Google hasn’t confirmed anything at this point in time and HTC official response about the negotiations with Google is that it “does not comment on market rumor or speculation.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if HTC does decide to sell itself. Its fortunes in the smartphone market have not turned and recent devices haven’t done much to steady the ship. There’s already a close relationship between Google and HTC. The two companies collaborated on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones as well.
Google has made no secret of the fact that it wants to build up its hardware division again. It tried this once before when it owned Motorola but that didn’t work. Motorola was sold to Lenovo a couple of years back and now it seems like Google might be willing to try its luck with hardware by acquiring HTC.
It’s unclear if Google will just be acquiring HTC’s smartphone business or if it will buy the Vive VR division as well. The VR division has the most potential for growth and if HTC decides to sell it, its shareholders will predictably react negatively.
It’s all speculation at this point in time as far as the outcome of all of this is concerned. We shall know for sure come tomorrow.
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HTC just announced it's shares will halt trading tomorrow (Thur) pending a major announcement.— Tim Culpan (@tculpan) September 20, 2017