For the past couple of years, it has been no secret that HTC is struggling to not only compete, but to make much money at all. The Taiwanese company is not alone however, as 2014 an 2015 haven’t exactly been stellar years for the smartphone industry. However, in HTC’s case, they struggled to recover in 2014, a year in which Samsung faltered and with the HTC One M9 they entered a market looking for something new, with a tired design. Earlier this year, it was reported that HTC was restructuring somewhat, with Peter Chou stepping down as CEO, letting Cher Wang take the helm. It would appear however, that the two co-founders simply cannot right the ship.
As Business Insider is reporting, recently HTC’s shares in Taiwan reached their lowest value in 10 years, falling so hard and so fast that sales of the shares were halted. Shares fell over the past 24 hours or so to NT$63, their lowest figure in the past 10 years. As of writing, Yahoo puts the shares at NT$63 as well, with an interesting graph that shows a steady, and then sharper, decline in value since February/March of this year. Again, according to Yahoo, HTC’s shares started Thursday at around NT$71.50 and then dropped to the aforementioned figure heading into today. That means that, in US Dollars, one share in HTC is worth just around $2 or so.
Earlier this year, HTC forecasted quarterly losses as high as five times the amount forecast by analysts and now some analysts are advising people to sell their shares in HTC. For the Taiwanese firm, it’s struggling to capture the high-end market here in the West, with devices like the Galaxy S6 and LG G4 simply outclassing the One M9. Even at the lower-end, where there were signs of hope with their Desire brand, HTC is struggling to keep up with the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei’s successful Honor brand. Taking a look back over the past few years, shares in HTC have plummeted, and are now worth just a small slither of what they used to be. Hopefully, 2016 will be the year the company finally turns things around, otherwise they might find themselves becoming a cheap takeover candidate.
