In addition to giving comments for the press release and writing a memo to employees, Tim Cook apparently invited a handful of high profile journalists to Apple's Cupertino headquarters today to talk about the just-announced Beats acquisition.
Cook spoke with reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times and other publications this afternoon on the Beats buyout. And we've rounded up some of the more interesting tidbits from each interview, below...
Now that the long-rumored Beats deal has been confirmed by Apple, folks are wondering what's to become of the Beats Music service. Although it just launched in January, it has already built up a [small] loyal following of subscribers.
The good news is, it sounds like Apple is going to allow Beats to operate as a separate company, which will include its streaming music service. And according to reports, it has no plans to pull the Android and Windows Phone clients...
After weeks of rumors and speculation, Apple confirmed that it has reached an agreement to acquire Beats Electronics this afternoon. The deal is worth $3 billion, split into a $2.6 billion payout and $400 million that will vest over time.
In the press release, Tim Cook said that 'music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple.' And he shared a similar sentiment in a memo he just emailed to the company's employees...
Hot on the heels of officially announcing the major $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics LCC., and ahead of its SVP Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi's joint appearance at the Code Conference tonight, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre's four months old music service has just sweetened the deal.
The startup has dropped the price of Beats Music yearly subscription free to $99.99, down from $119.88.
Additionally, the previous 7-day free trial of Beats Music has now been extended in a “no strings attached” move to fourteen days to all users...
Apple has remained mum on rumors that it's looking to acquire Beats Electronics, but it appears it's finally ready to break the silence. The New York Post reports tonight that the Cupertino firm is expected to announce the acquisition within the next few days.
Perhaps even more interesting is that the Post says Apple has managed to trim some $200 million off the price tag during the past two weeks of negotiation. According to the outlet's sources, the company has reached a deal to buy Beats for an even $3 billion...
Billboard is out with a new report this weekend, claiming that it's learned why the Apple-Beats acquisition has not been announced yet. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the outlet says that there are at least 5 things holding up the deal.
First, the buyout is 'complicated.' With this being Apple's largest purchase ever, the folks in Cupertino want to make sure they cross every t and dot every i. And second, the iPad-maker was nowhere near ready for details of the negotiations to leak...
It's been two weeks since we first received word that Apple was looking to acquire Beats Electronics, and we still haven't heard a peep about the sale from either company. Some folks have taken the silence as a sign talks had broken down, but a new report says that's not the case.
According to TechCrunch, sources with knowledge of the deal say that Apple's planned multi-billion dollar acquisition of headphone maker Beats will go through. The outlet does note, however, that negotiations have been bumpy and close to falling apart on multiple occasions...
Spotify has announced that it's surpassed two new major milestones in recent weeks. The streaming service says that it now has more than 10 million paying subscribers and over 40 million active users, in 56 markets around the globe.
For context, Pandora said last month that its active user count for March was 75.3 million. It didn't say how many of those were paid accounts, but looking at its numbers from last year (2.5 million) Spotify may be close to passing it...
By now, everyone has already chimed in with their two cents on what Apple's rumored Beats buy might mean for Apple's reputation in music - even our own Cody Lee has summarized the more popular theories floating around out there.
It's commonly accepted that Beats Electronic, LCC. co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine will be taking on senior roles at Apple after Beats buyout, with their grand introductions as Apple executives apparently set to take place at WWDC.
Bloomberg thinks Apple will keep Beats as a separate brand and improve its headphones design and another source speculated that the deal could lead to high-resolution music on iTunes.
But according to Steve Jobs's biographer Walter Isaacson, none of this is true as the deal is actually about video, not about headphones or streaming music...
As Apple moves closer to finalizing its Beats acquisition deal, a new report is out on a recently-filed lawsuit against the headphone-maker. The plaintiff is David Hyman, founder of music service MOG (now Beats Music), and he feels that Beats owes him a lot of money.
In the suit, shared by The Wrap, Hyman claims that he was offered a stout compensation package when Beats purchased his company and made him the CEO of Beats Music, which he never received. So now he's suing the firm for at least $20 million plus interest...
Following the flurry of reports late last week regarding Apple's plan to acquire Beats Electronics, a lot of folks expected the iPad-maker to comment on the matter after the long weekend. But Monday came, and went, without a single word from Cupertino.
As it turns out, that may be because it isn't a done deal yet. Citing people familiar with the transaction, Recode's Peter Kafka is reporting that Apple's Beats acquisition is taking longer than originally expected, and it may not be finalized until next week...
Apple's purported acquisition of Beats Electronics, LCC has set the tongues wagging as pundits race to offer their armchair analysis of the grand strategy behind Apple's alleged $3.2 billion deal.
The latest in the Apple-Beats saga comes via the rather reliable Japanese blog Macotakara which earlier this morning asserted that Apple will use Beats to introduce support for high-resolution audio files in iTunes and the iOS Music app and also improve sound quality of its pricey pricey $79 In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic...