Following their first quarterly loss since going public in 2002, rumor has it that HTC has been in talks with Lenovo regarding an acquisition. Taiwanese paper, (ironically named) Apple Daily reported that talks have been going on between the two since August. These meetings have been in secret, so specifics aren’t available, but if this goes through it’s expected to happen before June 2014. Analysts say that HTC is worth about $3.9 billion, which is a lot, but much smaller than it used to be due to HTC’s financial woes.
Lenovo is looking [from translation], “to discuss bilateral strategic cooperation, and the formulation of a reservation HTC brand condition”. An acquisition or strategic partnership would be mutually beneficial for increasing smartphone market share both globally and in the Chinese market. Lenovo has a 4.74% global market share and HTC’s is 7.4%Â respectively, but Lenovo’s Chinese market share is 12% and HTC has already stated a goal of 20% market share in China next year. In addition to increasing market share for both brands, Lenovo may help HTC’s supply chain, regional distribution, marketing, and management issues. Having someone new in the front office calling the shots may be the best thing to happen to HTC in a long time (Peter Chou and your boardroom of bad decisions, I’m talking to you).
HTC and Lenovo both make somewhat similar high-quality devices and have like-minded goals, so this deal makes sense to me and I’m all for it. What are you thoughts?
Source: Android Beat
