It’s official. Dr. Dre is hip-hop’s first billionaire.
The rap mogul/ producer and his business partner, Jimmy Iovine, have inked a $3 billion deal to sell Beats Electronics, which makes Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, to Apple Inc.
Dre, 49, and Iovine, 61, are getting $2.6 billion in cash, $400 million in Apple stock, and big time jobs with the company.
No word on what exactly Dre would be doing for Apple, but the Beats’ music streaming service was the main selling point.The streaming service would allow Apple to compete with YouTube, Pandora and Spotify.
“Apple might just be paying a reasonable price for a fast-growing company,” said industry expert Brian Colello, an equity analyst at Morningstar. “They also bring in talented music executives and they might be able to do very interesting things with Beats.”
The deal is about $200 million less than what had been expected when word first leaked, but this remains the most expensive acquisition in Apple’s 38-year history.
Well done Dre. Dre went form taking a year to make a beat to being a billionaire. Love it!
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