HTC has reportedly announced that its shares will stop trading starting on Thursday, as the company is preparing for a “major announcement.”

The news comes from Bloomberg Gadfly’s Tim Culpan, who is a columnist and analyst with particular insight on technology in Asia.

Earlier this month, there was speculation that Google was reportedly close to finalising an acquisition of the Taiwanese firm. The deal has not yet materialised.

However, Culpan is now reporting that HTC CEO Cher Wang is currently in Taipei, and that “parts of [HTC’s] HQ [have been] blocked off as evidence [that] the Google deal [is] to be announced in 1-2 days.” (He clarified that this information has not been verified as of yet.)

The company declined to comment via its investor relations web site, which looked like this:

Foto: source HTC

Another report from Focus Taiwan says that the original rumours mentioned HTC preparing a public space on the second floor of its headquarters “for a meeting with all staff members or an announcement of a major strategic reform,” so there is a good chance that the two things are linked.

HTC has been struggling for years financially, with shares falling 94% over the past six years. It would be fitting that a “major announcement” worth halting trade sharing could be something as big as a huge, potentially multi-billion acquisition.

Google has repeatedly expressed its interest in strengthening its hardware business – lately with the introduction of its Pixel-branded, self-designed lineup – which HTC itself has help to manufacture.