Geely completes acquisition of phone maker Meizu

Geely has now completed its acquisition of Chinese phone maker Meizu, allowing the former to expand its smartphone ventures.

It was confirmed by a report from Reuters that Hubei Xingji Shidai Technology Co. Ltd., Geely’s own smartphone department had acquired a majority stake from two shareholders in Meizu amounting to 79%.

The Zheijang Geely Holding Group owns various car brands such as Geely, Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus. Geely had created Hubei Xinji Shidai Technology as a separate entity dedicated to smartphones with Geely already investing around USD 1.5PHP 88INR 127EUR 1CNY 11 billion before acquiring Meizu.

Reuters reports that Geely had pointed out the close connection between vehicle cockpits and smartphone software. Meizu has been around since 2003 and was once a well-known smartphone brand. However, Meizu has lost traction lately in the smartphone market against rivals such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.

It will be interesting to see what Geely and Meizu do together in both their smartphones and automobile software. Let us know your thoughts on Geely pushing further in its smartphone ventures down in the comments!