Chairman Johnny Shih of Asustek said the company is not ruling out acquiring HTC.
Taiwanese Asustek is considering buying struggling HTC. Asustek Chairman Johnny Shih of Asustek said internally that they are not ruling out buying HTC.
Chief Financial Officer David Chang said to Reuters, "Our chairman has chatted about the topic internally," said Chang. "Still, the chances of an actual takeover are not big as Asustek is a company that has depended on organic growth."
HTC's shares took a plunge early this week of 20% after the company has forecast a steep loss for the June quarter. HTC has revised 2Q 2015 guidance to be NT$33-36 bn in revenue, 19%-19.5% in gross margin and EPS of -NT$9.70 to -NT$9.94.
The change for revenue outlook is due to slower demand for high-end Android devices, and weaker than forecast sales in China, while gross margin is revised primarily on product mix change and lowered scale. At the same time, increased competition has raised operating costs for product promotion; HTC is enacting measures to further improve operating efficiency.
HTC has expanded its product portfolio recently from just smartphones to also include wearables. Currently HTC offers the HTC Grip fitness band and the HTC Re action camera. HTC announced the current flagship smartphone in March. The HTC M9 competes directly with the Samsung Galaxy S6.
HTC has moved away from the rear Ultra Pixel Camera and now the M9 features 20MP rear camera capable of 4K recording along with 4MP UltraPixel front camera for selfie lovers, however the camera doesn't support OIS. HTC also beefed up the battery to 2,840 mAh as compared to 2,600mAh in M8, making it a tad thicker and now offers new colors options including Silver with Rose Gold frame, the famous Gun Metal Gray, Gold and a Pink color with Gold frame.
