HTC Ditches Beats Electronics Stock

From DailyTech: Smartphone maker HTC has officially announced that it will be disposing of all shares held in Beats Electronics. HTC says that it sold 26,100 class B units in Beats Electronics, representing 24.84% interest in the company. The stock was sold back to Beats itself.

HTC says that after shedding all shares of the stock it currently has 0% equity in the company. The sale, which reportedly raised $265 million, is expected to close in Q4 and HTC expects to make about $85 million in pretax profit. The deal will also see Beats pay back a $150 million promissory note plus any accrued interest.

Beats -- founded by music producer Jimmy Lovine and rapper Dr. Dre -- is an audio company famous for integrating its sound technology into HTC smartphones, but probably better known for its line of headphones.

HTC is currently finding it very difficult to compete on the global smartphone market, as its global market share sat at only 2.8 percent earlier this year.

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