It looks like Beats by Dr Dre have big plans to branch out further but before doing so, it wish to make one drastic move first – to buy back HTC’s 25% stake in the company. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Beats by Dr Dre wants to buy back their stake from HTC and is also trying to lock down a new investor to help with its expansion plans.
HTC first acquired majority stake in Beats (50.1% for USD$300 million) back in August 2011 and soon after, used the technology on most if its smartphones. Things went well for quite some time but it eventually slowed down, revenues and profits went down and in mid-2012, HTC sold back half its stake back to Beats Audio.
The Wall Street Journal did not provide any further details such as numbers, dates or what both companies will do if the plan pulls through. Will this deal actually mean better for both companies – for Beats Audio to find better potential investors and for HTC to have more cash at hand to focus more on other things, such as the recent USD$1 billion marketing campaign featuring Robert Downey Junior?
(Source: PhoneArena, WSJ Digits, TechCrunch)
