https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16339618/google-htc-asset-acquisition-close-rumor

As HTC nears a major announcement about its future on Thursday, Bloomberg today published a report claiming that Google is closing in on a deal to acquire “assets” from the company. HTC is reportedly planning to hold a town hall meeting at its headquarters on Thursday, according to VentureBeat’s Evan Blass. If that’s true, this deal could very well already be done, leaving Google and HTC to finalize everything before making their agreement public tomorrow.

Bloomberg’s report doesn’t get us any closer to knowing exactly what parts of HTC’s business that Google will be buying, nor how much money it’s spending to make this happen. A source told Blass that Google is focused on the company’s hardware engineering assets, which would potentially allow the HTC brand to carry on as part of the Vive/virtual reality business. But it also remains very possible that Google will absorb the entire brand and a good number of HTC employees in a more thorough buyout rather than being selective.