Apple to Announce Beats Acquisition This Week, Drops Price to $3 Billion
Apple's rumored acquisition of Beats will indeed happen, just for a slightly reduced fee, according to a report from the New York Post this evening. The acquisition, which was originally reported to be roughly $3.2 billion for both Beats companies -- the headphone and consumer electronics division as well as the streaming music service -- will now happen at $3 billion.
Since the acquisition was originally reported on May 8, Spotify -- the leading player in the subscription music field -- announced that it had 10 million paying subscribers, and this could have given Apple additional negotiating leverage.
Still, the company is understood to place a high value on the profitable Beats audio business which retails headphones — costing up to $450 — and speakers around the globe.
That business recorded sales of $1.3 billion in 2013.
“Apple hadn’t even begun its due diligence process when news of the number came out,” one source close to the talks said Tuesday.
The paper notes that both Jimmy Iovine and fellow Beats co-founder Dr. Dre are expected to attend Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference next week. Dre is expected to net somewhere around $750 million from the sale as he currently owns approximately 25 percent of the company.
Popular Stories
While past rumors have indicated the upcoming second-generation AirPods Pro will feature a built-in heart rate and body temperature sensor, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has cast doubt on those rumors turning out to be true, saying instead such a feature is unlikely to come anytime soon.
"Over the past few months, there have been rumors about this year's model gaining the ability to determine a...
The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers' hands and we're learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated...
Apple is working on an Apple Watch Series 8 model with a larger display, according to DSCC's Ross Young and Haitong International Securities's Jeff Pu.
In October last year, Young suggested that the Apple Watch Series 8 could come in three display sizes. Now, responding to a query about the rumor on Twitter, Young claims that the additional display size joining the Apple Watch lineup will be ...
The upcoming launch of Apple's redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip has some Windows laptop manufacturers "worried" that sales of Intel-based laptops will be negatively affected, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
"A Wintel brand vendor pointed out that at a price point of US$1,000-$1,500, the MacBook Air will crowd out other high-end notebooks," the report claims, with...
The upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 will be able to tell a wearer if it believes they have a fever due to a higher than normal body temperature thanks to a new built-in sensor, according to Bloomberg's reliable Mark Gurman.
Writing in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that the Apple Watch Series 8 will feature a new body temperature sensor, given that the sensor passes ...
The redesigned MacBook Air with the all-new M2 Apple silicon chip will be available for customers starting Friday, July 15, MacRumors has learned from a retail source. The new MacBook Air was announced and previewed during WWDC earlier this month, with Apple stating availability will begin in July. The MacBook Air features a redesigned body that is thinner and lighter than the previous...
European Union lawmakers have approved landmark legislation to heavily regulate Apple, Google, Meta, and other big tech firms.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) were proposed by the European Commission in December 2020. Now, collected in a "Digital Services Package," the legislation has been formally adopted by the European Parliament and seeks to address...
Top Rated Comments
<crickets>
Replace <crickets> with <silence, followed by a lone person yelling "Morons!">
I'd rather people booed.