Taiwanese smartphone producer HTC has taken a firm position against the idea of a takeover, said Cher Wang co-founder and chairperson of the company, which conceded its first-ever quarterly loss on Friday driven by slumping sales amid aggressive competition in the global handset market.
“We dont need to be taken over,” Wang told CNBCs Managing Asia. “Stock price is really the past. Innovation is the future. I actually never look into the price, it doesnt influence me.”
Shares of HTC have declined over 55% year to date, significantly under-performing peers Apple and Samsung, whose shares have declined 9.2% and 6.2%, respectively, over the same period. The companys more than disappointing share price performance has caused talks in recent months about it becoming an attractive takeover target. In August, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co identified Chinas ZTE, Huawei Technologies and Lenovo Group as potential bidders.
The HTC One manufacturer posted a loss of near $100 million in the third quarter, larger than expected, according to Thomson Reuters.
HTC, which was a leader in Android smartphone sales in the U.S. just a few years ago, is struggling to comeback given fierce competition and pressure to get more aggressive on pricing. This has led some to wonder whether it will follow the same path as Nokia and Blackberry.
Companys poor performance in recent years and market share declines has led to some speculation that the company may soon fire chief executive Peter Chou. However, Wang said that she does not foresee leadership changes at the company any time soon.
“Peter is a great guy. He has a lot of innovative ideas and hes very charismatic with people and also with engineers,” she said.