Money talks and talent walks in Google's HTC buy

San Francisco

GOOGLE has agreed to buy part of HTC Corp's engineering and design teams for US$1.1 billion, taking on a cadre of veterans who worked on the Pixel phone and could bolster its nascent hardware business.

Alphabet Inc's Google is taking on some 2,000 employees with experience working on its signature Pixel devices, intended to showcase the best features of the Android software that now powers the vast majority of the world's smartphones.

The deal comes with a non-exclusive licensing agreement for HTC intellectual property.

Google now gains tighter control over the design and production of the Pixel and other devices, potentially helping sales. Tho…