Huawei Sells Budget-Brand Smartphone Unit Honor for $15 Billion

Huawei expects to sell a budget-brand smartphone unit Honor to a consortium led by distributor Digital China and local government of the brand's home town, Shenzhen, for $15,2 billion. The deal may be closed as early as next Sunday.

The sale will include nearly all of Honor's assets, including brand, research & development capabilities, and supply chain management.

After the sale, Honor wants to retain most of its management team and more than 7,000 employees, as well as an IPO over the next three years.

Apparently, Huawei is going to sell Honor due to US sanctions. Recall that the US ban prohibits Huawei from selling its products in the United States or working with companies such as Google or ARM to use critical software and licensing. Donald Trump has extended these restrictions until May 2021, but maybe the situation will change with the new US President.

Representatives from Huawei, Honor, Digital China, and the Shenzhen government did not comment on it.

Earlier, the authoritative analyst Min-Chi Kuo announced that Huawei plans to sell Honor. He noted that in the case of a sale, Honor would not be limited in purchasing components from any companies, which will unload Huawei or contribute to the development of Honor as an independent manufacturer

Among potential buyers of Honor, there are TCL and Xiaomi.