HTC 'will not consider' a sale to ASUS, but it should

A couple of days ago, ASUS formally revealed that it has considered snapping up fellow Taiwanese maker HTC. An acquisition would make sense for both players, and the timing is right seeing as HTC's shares have been falling like rocks in the past couple of months, losing more than half their value in such a short period of time.

However, HTC, while not in a position of strength at the moment, claims that "it will not [even] consider" a sale to ASUS, likely because it does not want to admit it is in deep trouble and has no idea how to get out of this situation.

In a statement on the Investors page on its site, HTC says the following:

We strongly deny the news. We didn’t contact Asusteck and will not consider the acquisition. As an international brand, HTC will continue to design world-class innovative smart devices through its pursuit of brilliance brand promise.

HTC's answer is a bit much, because ASUS has not said that it is buying HTC, only that it has considered doing so. There is nothing to "deny" here, especially the part about HTC contacting ASUS on a possible acquisition -- something which, again, ASUS has not said.

"Our chairman has chatted about the topic internally", ASUS CFO David Chang told Reuters late last week. "Still, the chances of an actual takeover are not big as Asustek is a company that has depended on organic growth". That could be interpreted as ASUS subtly leaving the offer on the table, awaiting HTC to make a move.

While HTC has been busy coming up with a statement to "deny the news", its investors have responded positively to ASUS' announcement, causing shares to jump to NT$83.6, from NT$76 at opening, at the time of writing this article.

Looking past the financial aspect, HTC should consider a sale because, first and foremost, it seems to be unable to steer itself back in the right direction. It has changed CEOs, tried to woo consumers with attractive smartphones like One (M7), changed its marketing strategy (at least to some extent), but also failed to capitalize on its strengths in the past few years.

Perhaps a sale is what could get HTC back on track, and back in consumers' attention. Maybe ASUS will not be the company that buys HTC, but perhaps another player could woo its leadership enough to at least consider this.

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