It’s official! Apple buying Beats for $3 billion

Apple has officially announced that it will acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics for a whopping $3 billion.

According to Apple’s press release, the Cupertino-based company will buy the two mentioned companies for a total of $3 billion, “consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.” As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple.

From left: Jimmy Iovine, Timothy D. Cook, Dr. Dre, Eddy Cue. Credit – Paul Sakuma/Apple.

Apple has also expressed that Beats Music, even with its small subscriber base of about 110,000 (for comparison, Spotify has 10 million), will play an important role in its future plans for digital music.

“The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats, and of course buying music from the iTunes Store as customers have loved to do for years.” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

Apple will also bring the Beats product lineup to many more countries through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

In an interview with New York Times, Tim Cook has mentioned that Dr. Dre and Mr. Iovine would work with Apple to bring “products you haven’t thought of yet”.

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