In a somewhat surprising move, Apple is rumored to be in talks with Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics that could see the audio accessories and music streaming service acquired for $3.2 billion.
Under the supposed deal, Apple would gain control of Beats’ audio hardware division as well as the firm’s subscription-based music streaming service. The Beats management team would report to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
This is getting interesting.
I was hoping for a ‘nope’.
Don’t see how this would make sense for Apple.
Since when do we trust The Financial Times with something like this? Unless you have some inside info they don’t have?
let’s read between the lines here, Itunes is not cutting it…
Well, the NYT, Bloomberg, Recode and the WSJ all have sources saying the same thing now… I’m surprised Jim hasn’t responded with a “yep” or “nope” yet!
What a terrible rumor, hope that is not true. Everything they make is crap, and the subscription service is certainly something Apple could pull off alone… Beats’ contracts with the labels are most likely not transferable anyhow.
But maybe that gold iPhone bought them more street cred than they can swallow 🙁
When Jony Ive resigns before next WWDC it’ll start making more sense.
I´m guessing this has nothing to do with headphones, and all about licensing/exclusivity. Beats Music will be the ultimate streaming service, and I´m sure it will support music videos soon. I think Apple will keep the brand name Beats Music, and use it as a streaming service. Maybe they´ll even go into Android with it.
Regardless of what I think about their headphones (they suck) and streaming music (it sucks), Apple has never been known to pay more than necessary for a company. Beats had a financing round 4 months ago which valued it at about a billion. We’re supposed to believe that the last 4 months have seen a value increase of 3X?
Preposterous.
If this turns out to be true, I think it will mark the exact moment we look back to in hindsight and say, yeah. We should have seen the writing on the wall for Apple’s decline.
This move at this price makes absolutely no sense at all. Yahoo? Sure. Dropbox? Absolutely. Wolfram Alpha? Hurrah!
But Beats? Really?? Cut the price 90% and I still wouldn’t see the value.
Resigning because of this acquisition?
Take out Yahoo and I’d agree with you. Removed Alibaba and Yahoo Japan and the rest of the company is worthless.
Right, but Yahoo would at least make sense to me as a strategic move in an important market where they need to grow their presence, with some ancillary benefits (Yahoo still gets a ton of traffic). I just don’t get the beats thing. If Apple is looking to become a headphones and medical devices company, I think they’re losing their way.
Almost nothing sounds as “headphones and medical” as Dr. Dre though… 🙂
Yup. The number 1 moneymaker in digital music isn’t cutting it. Hyperbole away…!
LOL! Well played, my friend.
If you love beats you know nothing about headphones. If you hate beats, you really don’t know anything about headphones.
For all their technical flaws, half the reason why beats keep selling is that for most kinds of audio, bass heavy music, they sound decent. Half of it IS braaaaaaaaand. Or a reasonable portion thereof.
Still, EarPods have decent response, but not great. I think Apple is looking to double down on making decent headphones. I’m thinking this might be EarPods 2.0. Apple has had a history of making in ear headphones too, in addition to that iPod hifi thing. Apple getting into the personal audio biz makes a lot of sense from a priorities perspective.
Nada. Nope. Not buying it.
And neither is Apple.
I can’t read WSJ or NYT, but Bloomberg and Recode both seem to be relying on FT as their source.
so why are we buying Beats? for the headphones? shits and giggles?
If this is going to happen, then this would be the first time
that I am seriously worried about Apple
since the death of SJ.
It’s contrary to everything Apple has done in recent years.
Save the licensing deals probably expire if sold.
Because what Apple really needs is a couple dozen more products in it’s lineup in dozens of different colors. That totally sounds like something they’d do.
It would make as much sense for them to just buy Dr. Dre.
ick.
Is this about brand and the (youth) category? Beats hardware looks good, but it doesn’t reflect Apple’s passion for quality.
That’s my initial take, particularly after catching up on Angela Ahrendts’s videos where she talks about how she reinvented Burberry. Apple’s clearly paying very close attention to this customer category at the moment. Beats makes sense in this context, but not at the rumored valuation.
I’ve rarely (I can’t recall the last time, in fact) objected to a move Apple has made on this level, but this development has me concerned (as a s/h and fan).
Or it’s just a rumor??
I was dead wrong. Filet o’ crow to go please?