HTC shares suspended from trading amid Google takeover rumours

The Taiwanese Stock Exchange issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that trading would be halted pending the release of “material information”

HTC has struggled to compete with Samsung and Apple in recent years

Shares in smartphone maker HTC will be suspended from trading on Thursday amid rumours Google’s parent company Alphabet is mounting a takeover bid.

HTC’s shares are listed on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange (TSE) which issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that trading would be halted pending the release of “material information”. The TSE was closed at the time of the announcement. HTC said in a statement that it would not comment on market speculation.

Recent reports in Taiwanese media have suggested that a Google takeover of HTC was being mooted.

HTC’s sales have fallen drastically in recent years as competitors such as Samsung and Apple have widened their lead in the smartphone market.

The Taiwanese firm sold half as many phones in the year to August as it did in the previous twelve months, its latest results show.

At its peak, in 2011, HTC had around 9 per cent of the market, but it now has less than 1 per cent, according to the Financial Times. It’s shares have fallen 95 per cent in that time.

Any potential takeover offers the benefit of bringing together smartphone hardware and software expertise under one roof. Google released its first ever smartphone - the Pixel - earlier this year, but, although it is branded as a Google phone, is actually built by HTC.

Google is behind the Android operating system used by the vast majority of the world’s non-Apple smartphones.

Google has already made one foray into the world of phone hardware, buying Motorola Mobility in 2011 for $12.5bn (£9bn). That deal turned into a disaster when Google offloaded the unit just three years later for $2.9bn to China’s Lenovo.

Any buyout of HTC will be significantly cheaper. The company is valued at around 55.5bn Taiwanese dollars (£1.36bn).