Asus Chairman says he is considering a purchase of HTC

With HTC's stock price at an all-time low and continuing to drop, now would be the perfect time for another company interested in the troubled manufacturer to make a bid for it. One company considering making a play for HTC is fellow Taiwan device producer Asus. At the company's annual meeting held on Friday, Chairman Johnny Shih replied to questions about whether Asus was interested in HTC by saying that it has not ruled out making a bid for the company.

Asus CFO David Chang added that while Shih has discussed the topic of an HTC purchase internally, the company has traditionally relied on organic growth. The executive added that this means that the chances of a deal between the two companies are actually slim.

Since the HTC One M9 was launched in March, HTC's shares have plunged almost 50%. The company is writing off $93 million for the second quarter as it cuts production of its flagship phone by 30%. With that in mind, HTC says that it is developing a new re-designed "hero" phone for October.

HTC's market value is a little over $2 billion USD now. In 2011, the company was worth $33.8 billion USD. If Asus is interested in HTC, now would seem like a good time for it to make a bid.

source: Reuters