After a turbulent year for HTC that has seen it continue to struggle in terms of sales volume and losses despite the high-profile releases of 2 HTC One smartphones in the One and One Mini, its current partnership with Beats Audio is now in question, as the audio accessories manufacturer will buy back the remainder of the 24.84% stake still held by HTC for $265 million by the end of the year, effectively ending the partnership on an official basis, though HTC has stated that Beats Audio will remain an important partner for the company without elaborating on exactly what capacity both companies will continue to collaborate.
Beats Audio previously repurchased the initial 24% stake in the previous agreement last year for $150 million following massive losses by HTC due to slower than expected handset sale volume, which initially cast the entire partnership in doubt as HTC had not had a breakout hit and the previous HTC One smartphone series didn’t manage to revive its fortunes, while its current struggles with the current One series continue to mount.
With the stake repurchase and the ending of the partnership at an official level, HTC’s ambitious plans to use Beats Audio to expand its presence commercially never really came to fruition as many long-time HTC fans saw the integration of Beats Audio branding and associated audio products as garish and ineffectual, chalking it up to a shallow marketing exercise rather than the tie-up contributing anything of real value.
