Nearly a year after HTC threw down $300 million to acquire half of Beats Audio, the company behind the popular Beats by Dre line of headphones has decided to buy back a majority of its shares from the Taiwanese device maker.
The move will give Beats Audio a 75% percent majority stake. It will also give HTC some much needed cash. After posting disappointing quarter results way below analysts expectations, HTC has been working to get back on a profitable path. It hopes it new One Series smartphones will help in that recovery.
The HTC and Beats Audio partnership took a slight hit in April when it was announced that HTC phones would no longer come with special Beats by Dre earbuds. HTC, in an interview with CNET, said that people were not as interested in headphones when buying phones as it anticipated. However, don't expect to see Beats teaming up with any other smartphone maker: The two companies will continue to work on future HTC phones powered by Beats Audio technology.
[via PC Mag]
