https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/21/google_hires_htc_pixel_team/

As rumoured since early September, Google's decided to hire the HTC team that designs and builds its Pixel phones.

The ad giant's announcement says “ a team of HTC talent” that has “already been working with [Google] closely on the Pixel smartphone line” will join the company. Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior veep for hardware, declares himself “excited to see what we can do together as one team.”