Google and HTC have signed an agreement to send some of HTC's employees over to Google, while HTC gets a $1.1 billion cash and Google gets a non-exclusive license for HTC's intellectual property.

"With this agreement, a team of HTC talent will join Google as part of the hardware organization. These future fellow Googlers are amazing folks we've already been working with closely on the Pixel smartphone line, and we're excited to see what we can do together as one team. The deal also includes a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property," said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Google Hardware.

Google has been working with HTC for 10 years. Togrether, they developed the first ever Android smartphone, the HTC Dream, also known as the T-Mobile G1; as well as the Nexus One in 2010, the Nexus 9 tablet in 2014, and the first Pixel smartphone just last year.

HTC will continue competing in the smartphone and VR markets. The company says the sale of the Pixel team will give it "a more streamlined product portfolio, greater operational efficiency and financial flexibility." HTC says it "will continue to have best-in-class engineering talent, which is currently working on the next flagship phone."