Google buys part of HTC for $1.1 billion in bid to compete with Apple and Amazon on devices

SAN FRANCISCO – Google is biting off a big piece of device manufacturer HTC for $1.1 billion to expand its efforts to build phones, speakers and other gadgets equipped with its arsenal of digital services. The deal, announced Thursday, underscores how serious Google is becoming about designing its own family of devices to compete against Apple and Amazon in a high-stakes battle to become the technological hub of people's lives. Google will take on HTC employees including teams who have worked on its signature Pixel smartphone. The deal also comes with a nonexclusive licensing agreement for HTC intellectual property, the companies said in a statement. The deal covers half of HTC's research staff, or around 2,000 people, and is expected to be completed in early 2018 pending regulatory approval, HTC said.