Beats Electronics control its own destiny by means of Buyback - Artipot

Last August, Beats sold 50.1 percent of its shares to HTC in a deal that apparently included some degree of financial support or payment from the HTC. The $300 million purchase gave HTC a controlling share in the audio accessory maker, as well as exclusive access to Beats technology for the mobile market.

In fact, over the last year, HTC and Beats have made great progress in sound innovation, product integration and brand awareness with successes like the HTC One. Having received rave reviews, the HTC One X and One S are undoubtedly the best phones currently on the market.

Unfortunately, as the Samsung Galaxy line of devices and Apple iPhones have continued to take over more of the market, HTC has been unable to fully support Beats Audio. HTC recently announced that the red Beats Audio earbuds sold with premium Beats Audio smartphones were being pulled because buyers did not want to pay a premium for better sound quality on their smartphones.

"An accessory like the headphone doesn't factor in when someone is buying a smartphone. If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly." HTC product executive Martin Fichter, in an interview with CNET said.

HTC management shakeup and market share shrinking kept the company from meeting its financial commitments to Beats, leading Beats to buy back half of the shares it had sold to the Taiwanese phone maker. Because of HTC originally purchased their 50 percent stake for $300 million, Beats bought their 25 percent share back at the same equivalent price, $150 million.

Following the new buyback, Beats will hold approximately 75% of its own shares, with HTC remaining the largest outside shareholder with approximately 25%. Beats representatives have said that the deal will provide the company with operational flexibility for global expansion. According to some analyses, Beats holds 28.7 percent of the overall headphone category, with 54 percent of market share among headphones costing $100 or more.

In the other side, HTC will continue to hold a, "major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile," which means that you shouldn't expect to see Beats Audio technology accompanying Samsung, Motorola or other company's phones any time.

Furthermore, the two companies will continue to work together to stuff Beats Audio technology into future HTC phones, and they're even going to be working on a joint marketing campaign later in 2012.

Beats Audio is better off controlling its own destiny in place of HTC control? Let's wait and see.

Source: http://www.artipot.com/articles/1348711/beats-electronics-control-its-own-destiny-by-means-of-buyback-shares-from-htc.htm

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