Google buys HTC smartphone team for $1.1B [u]
After HTC announced a coming halt to trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange pending "material information" that could impact the stock's value, a move that sparked speculation of a takeover, Google on Wednesday confirmed plans to buy the firm's mobile division team for $1.1 billion.
Officially announced in a blog post penned by Google SVP of Hardware Rick Osterloh, the acquisition is in many ways an extension of Google's partnership with HTC that started with the HTC Dream, the first Android smartphone. HTC later collaborated with Google on the Nexus One, Nexus 9 tablet and, most recently, the Pixel smartphone line.
"With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization," Osterloh said. "These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we've already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we're excited to see what we can do together as one team."
Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed beyond the $1.1 billion Google paid for the Powered by HTC team. Sources informed Reuters earlier today that the deal is worth around $1 billion, while figures cited by The Verge, which later reported Google is spending $1.1 billion on the mobile division assets.
In addition to adding members of HTC's smartphone team to its ranks, Google is netting a non-exclusive intellectual property license from the deal. What IP is covered under the acquisition's terms, or how much Google shelled out for it, is unclear.
At Google, the soon-to-be former HTC employees will be working on future "Made by Google" products. Introduced last year, the hardware lineup ranges from the HTC-built Pixel to the Google Home speaker accessory, Google Wifi mesh networking system, Daydream View VR headset and Chromecast Ultra media streamer. A second generation of Made by Google devices is slated for unveiling on Oct. 4.
Today's announcement validates in part rumors from earlier this month that claimed Google was eyeing an HTC takeover. At the time, reports said the internet search giant was looking to take a controlling interest in, or completely buying out, HTC's smartphone operation.
Google's latest high-profile buy in the smartphone space is reminiscent of its ill-fated 2012 purchase of Motorola Mobility. A $12.5 billion deal, Google invested substantial capital in the beleaguered manufacturer, but saw very little in the way of returns. In 2014, Motorola was ultimately sold off to Lenovo for $2.9 billion, though Google held on to a "vast majority" of the telecom's important patents.
Update: This story has been updated with correct acquisition figures.
Officially announced in a blog post penned by Google SVP of Hardware Rick Osterloh, the acquisition is in many ways an extension of Google's partnership with HTC that started with the HTC Dream, the first Android smartphone. HTC later collaborated with Google on the Nexus One, Nexus 9 tablet and, most recently, the Pixel smartphone line.
"With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization," Osterloh said. "These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we've already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we're excited to see what we can do together as one team."
Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed beyond the $1.1 billion Google paid for the Powered by HTC team. Sources informed Reuters earlier today that the deal is worth around $1 billion, while figures cited by The Verge, which later reported Google is spending $1.1 billion on the mobile division assets.
In addition to adding members of HTC's smartphone team to its ranks, Google is netting a non-exclusive intellectual property license from the deal. What IP is covered under the acquisition's terms, or how much Google shelled out for it, is unclear.
At Google, the soon-to-be former HTC employees will be working on future "Made by Google" products. Introduced last year, the hardware lineup ranges from the HTC-built Pixel to the Google Home speaker accessory, Google Wifi mesh networking system, Daydream View VR headset and Chromecast Ultra media streamer. A second generation of Made by Google devices is slated for unveiling on Oct. 4.
Today's announcement validates in part rumors from earlier this month that claimed Google was eyeing an HTC takeover. At the time, reports said the internet search giant was looking to take a controlling interest in, or completely buying out, HTC's smartphone operation.
Google's latest high-profile buy in the smartphone space is reminiscent of its ill-fated 2012 purchase of Motorola Mobility. A $12.5 billion deal, Google invested substantial capital in the beleaguered manufacturer, but saw very little in the way of returns. In 2014, Motorola was ultimately sold off to Lenovo for $2.9 billion, though Google held on to a "vast majority" of the telecom's important patents.
Update: This story has been updated with correct acquisition figures.
Comments
- They sold Motorola to Lenovo for 2.9 billion (as the article correctly reports).
- They also sold the cable modem and set-top box business to Arris for 2.35 billion in 2012.
- Motorola had 3 billion in cash.
So once you factor everything out (plus some tax assets apparently), it appears they lost not more than 3.5 billion on the deal. A nice article is here:
http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-motorola-sale-interview-lenovo/
So one view is that they paid about 3.5 billion for Motorola patents - which is less than Apple and Microsoft paid when they teamed up to buy Nortel patents for 4.5 billion.
But more importantly, Motorola was about to sue other Android manufacturers (Samsung, HTC). Google appeared to buy Motorola to end that threat because Android was not yet the dominant alternative to iOS. If Motorola would have sued everyone else, it could have disrupted the whole eco-system.
So I don't think Google regrets buying Motorola - it might have been a defensive move (getting more patents, prevent a patent war with other Android OEMs) but it wasn't hugely expensive in the end.
Now, I suppose it will be different. Google may really be "In it to Win it" this time...
Microsoft now competes with their OEM Windows licensees' with Surface Hardware so... it is what it is.
everyone really, really wants to be like Apple now.
Since the iPhone was released, Apple has generated as much profit as Google and MS combined, and not all of that was from the iPhone.
https://qz.com/1045972/apple-aapl-has-made-as-much-as-microsoft-msft-and-alphabet-goog-combined-since-the-iphone-launched/
http://www.asymco.com/2017/09/20/good-better-best/
"Before the iPhones 8 and X launched I made a prediction on what the iPhone would cost. I concluded that the iPhone price would not change. This is because it has never changed[1]. Apple collected $767,758,000,000 for the 1,203,732,000 iPhones sold to the end of June or $ 637.8147 per phone."