https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16340108/google-htc-smartphone-team-acquisition-announced

Google is making another big buy into smartphone hardware — or at least the people responsibly for creating it. The company has just confirmed that it plans to acquire part of HTC’s mobile division team. “These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we’ve already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we're excited to see what we can do together as one team,” Rick Osterloh, Google’s hardware boss, wrote in a blog post. “The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.”

However, HTC will reportedly continue onward with its own smartphone business even after sending a good portion of its talent and operations over to Google. This deal will not result in Google obtaining any direct stake in HTC, according to Reuters. Both Reuters and Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan put the deal at around $1 billion. A major announcement was all but assured Wednesday, when HTC announced it would briefly halt trading on the Taiwan stock exchange ahead of “material information” to come on Thursday (local time).