Beat goes on for HTC

Handset manufacturer HTC is upping its game in the youth market with the revelation this week that it will purchase a majority stake in high end headphone maker Beats Electronics, founded by rapper and producer Dr Dre.

HTC will pay out $300m for the 51 per cent stake, which it will use “to redefine the smart phone category and redefine the way that sound is heard.”

The handset firm will leverage the “cool” image of the Beats brand to boost its presence in the US and other markets, incorporating the firm’s specialist technology into products available before year end.

HTC is on a spending spree at the moment, with this latest venture marking the third investment in six weeks and the fourth this year. HTC has invested in cloud platform Dashwire, graphics firm S3 and content delivery platform Saffron over the past several months.