Smartphone maker HTC may sell entire business says report

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Cher Wang, chairwoman of HTC

HTC, once a well-known smartphone maker, is reportedly looking to sell part or all of its business, according Bloomberg.

HTC made its name building smartphones for carriers before launching HTC-branded devices, such as the popular One M7 that it sold several years ago. As competition from Samsung and Apple ramped up, however, HTC had a hard time maintaining its consumer base and, as a result, its carrier partnerships.

It also lost several key executives over the past couple of years, including CEO Peter Chou, who was replaced by Cher Wang in 2015.

Its latest phone, the HTC U11, is only sold by Sprint in the U.S. Not a single U.S. carrier picked up HTC’s prior phone.

HTC is also interested in possibly selling its VR business, according to Bloomberg, which it created with help from Valve. The company’s Vive headset competes with Facebook’s Oculus VR product. HTC recently dropped the price by $200 to make the price more attractive to consumers.

“HTC doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation,” a spokesperson told CNBC.

Read the full story at Bloomberg.