HTC Sells Half its Stake in Beats Back to the Company's Founders

HTC Corp. has sold 25% of its stakes in Beats Electronics back to the company's founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for US$150 million. HTC originally purchased a 50.1% of Beats for US$309 million last August.

Since that point, HTC had been featuring Beats Audio in a collection of handheld devices. Following this latest transaction, both groups will continue to work together.

HTC still holds 25.1% of Beats' shares and will have a 25.57% voting right.

In a prepared statement, HTC said that this sale "provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC's major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile."

Beats is primarily a developer of high-end headphones and speakers.

In Photo: HTC Desire C

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