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| Google signs $1.1bn HTC smartphone deal | Google signs $1.1bn HTC smartphone deal |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Alphabet's Google has struck a $1.1bn (£822m) deal with Taiwan's HTC to expand its smartphone business. | Alphabet's Google has struck a $1.1bn (£822m) deal with Taiwan's HTC to expand its smartphone business. |
| Google will not take a stake in the firm, but some HTC staff will join the Silicon Valley giant. | Google will not take a stake in the firm, but some HTC staff will join the Silicon Valley giant. |
| The Taiwanese company was once a major player in the smartphone market but has struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. | The Taiwanese company was once a major player in the smartphone market but has struggled to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. |
| Google expects the deal to close by early 2018, provided it gets the all clear from regulators. | Google expects the deal to close by early 2018, provided it gets the all clear from regulators. |
| Shares in HTC were suspended in Taiwan on Thursday ahead of the announcement. | |
| Betting on hardware | |
| Under the deal, Google will acquire a team of people who develop Pixel smartphones for the US company and receive a non-exclusive license for HTC's intellectual property. | |
| "It's still early days for Google's hardware business," the firm's senior vice-president of hardware Rick Osterloh said in a blog post on Google's website. | |
| The deal builds on an existing partnership between the two tech companies. | |
| "These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we've already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line," Mr Osterloh said. | |
| Deal benefits | |
| In 2011 Alphabet, then named Google, bought Motorola's Mobility for $12.5bn, only to sell it on three years later. | |
| Geoff Blaber from CCS Insight said while the HTC deal might "raise eyebrows" given Google's history with Motorola, it will give the firm valuable design and engineering resources. | |
| "The far bigger risk for Google would be to stand by and do nothing as hardware becomes an all-important means to an end for its core business," Mr Blaber said. | |
| But the big winner is HTC. | |
| "It's a much needed investment as HTC struggles to maintain its smartphone business and grow its early start in virtual reality," he added. |