Apple's Acquisition of Beats Could Be Delayed Because of Valuation, Roles, and More

[juanm]

The "Dr. Dre paradox" (his only real contribution to science, since he's not a real doctor):

How can someone sloppy enough to carelessly leak confirmation about such a large deal, be worth so much?

If someone -even of normal intelligence- were told "I'll make you stinking rich, but you've got to be quiet about it until June", you bet I wouldn't "confirm nor deny" any information.

 

[NY Guitarist]

I would think there would be some ironclad NDAs involved in a deal like this, and maybe the leak jeopardized the deal.

I think this is hyped to death by Beats et al, and will degrade Apple's brand. I just don't see 3 billion dollars worth of anything in this deal, and think Beats is hyping this gangsta style.

 

[smoledman]

I'm pretty sure the deal is scuttled. Too bad for Samsung because they wish Apple had thrown away $3.2 billion.

 

[WallToWallMacs]

Here we go with this crap again..."It's so not Apple", "beats are overpriced pieces of crap", "Oh I'm such an audiophile I critique the lows mids and highs of my own farts and I'll tell you beats are garbage"....Give it a rest...Apple is buying Beats..get over it.

Based on what evidence? A few links to some financial rags that are akin to cosmopolitan for the financial world? There is zero hard evidence other than so called journalists blowing smoke up each other's backside to make each other feel good over that fact that they've collectively generated clicks for their website. As for the so-called 'cultural aesthetic' of Dr Dre - the guy is a dime in a dozen that can be acquired by having some street artists giving tips to Jony Ive.

 

[MellowFuzz]

Ditch the Dre.

 

[Zellio]

If Steve Jobs were still alive..

 

[krravi]

Yeah apple looking at buying a company that makes tons of money instead of a thermostat company that makes no money or an insane amount of money on a text app that has zero chance of ever recouping even a fraction of its cost. Let us not forgot Mototola. All these companies buying other companies who lose money sure are making apple dumb for pursuing a very profitable company.

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You should stick to getting an arts history degree. That combination of purchases make no sense and would be magnitudes worse than buying beats. Buying a company that loses money and another with no market share is not better than buying a highly profitable company with dominant market share.

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You are spot on. Plus the deal was already well known before the Dre video. Tying him to leaking the deal makes no sense. The outline of the deal was in the media before the Dre video was even made.

If Nest is just a thermostat company, then Apple is just a computer company.

 

[Switchback666]

No mention about Apple on that video or any deal that I recall.

 

[Jjaro]

I didn't think that video Dre made would help the negotiations. It came off very smug and I'm sure Tim Cook didn't like it one bit.

Hey man just wanted to say your signature is SPOT ON! I have nearly stopped following Appleinsider for this reason, people go nuts!

 

[Mackan]

I smell Apple will back out of this acquisition after that video. They don't know who they are acquiring, it seems, but now they got a bit better picture of the "culture", hehe. Not exactly finger top feeling from Mr. Cook.

Mr. Cook was also thrilled when he hired John Browett, yet fired him shortly afterwards, but Browett managed to walk away with millions in stock anyway... It's rotten.

 

[elppa]

3. Spotify? Seriously folks a Spotify acquisition would cost over 5 billion dollars to close seeing as how they are valued at roughly 4 billion now. Acquiring Spotify wouldn't improve the Apple and Iovine relationship.

No, but it would give them access to the best streaming music service in the world and significant marketshare. Also they could use their overseas cash for an acquisition (which Apple are not going to repatriate any time soon).

 

[dazzer21]

Classy!

Blurting out that you've been bought out by the world's most secretive company... before it's happened! Have these people ever heard of Apple before?!

 

[Robert.Walter]

Blurting out that you've been bought out by the world's most secretive company... before it's happened! Have these people ever heard of Apple before?!

Most secretive company? Wouldn't that be a company which no one's yet heard of? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[peterh988]

I didn't think that video Dre made would help the negotiations. It came off very smug and I'm sure Tim Cook didn't like it one bit.

That's going to be one tense conversation the next day;

"The reason we're not billionaires this morning is because YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!"

 

[WinstonRumfoord]

If anybody mistakenly ingested poison in the past few minutes and needs an emetic, I suggest giving the YouTube comments on the video in the article a browse.

Or, you could just watch the video and feel equally sick

 

[jaison13]

i would think having the beats head phones logo was more important for a profit than the music service. i'd just scrap that. i kinda thought they were buying the music service mrsmore as a buy it and eliminate competition type deal.

 

[osofast240sx]

Just watched the video. If the Apple family is worried about what they saw, then I really wonder how they think a professional rapper might celebrate a billion plus dollar deal? I've celebrated the closing of much smaller deals in much more wild fashion than a few boasts and claims of knocking back some Heinekens. But I'm a reasonable and prudent guy who puts in a hard days work and gets results. But at parties, I party. This was a video from a party.

If you want the cred of folks like this, you have to understand the actions and behavior they will bring. In fact, they have to continue to exhibit certain behavior in order to maintain the very cred that you want to be associated with. Would Paris Hilton have become a an international celebrity if she had acted reasonable and prudent every day? Celebrities need to add buzz in order to maintain their currency. This was a modest bit of boasting. Nothing to see here in my opinion.

Probably plenty of reasons not to spend $3.2 billion on Beats. But Dr. Dre boasting about a legitimate and impressive milestone and using some swear words is not a good reason to not do a deal.

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But do you cancel just on principal? If the counterparty is leaking in order to get a competing offer, that might be unfair. So you cancel. Or if they are leaking and thereby giving advance notice to your competitors, that might be a problem. But I don't think you cancel a deal just based on principal. Not if there are billions of dollars at stake. And Apple wouldn't do a deal of this size if they didn't think they would make at least a billion in profit in the next few years. Anything less than that would make the deal not worth the money combined with headache.

That video was most certainly a controlled leak. Fact you have a generation of CEOs and executives who grew up on and love hip-hop music( including Tim Cook) People with money party at a different level than normal people, just got to TenJune, Juliette or 1 Oak in NYC.

 

[Max_Walker]

Reality Distortion Field

It would be kinda ironic if Apple purchased Beats as a result of a current practitioner of RDF theory.

 

[Dubberton]

Please delay forever. Beats is garbage to the core.

 

[Xenc]

If Steve Jobs were still alive..

...he'd probably have a FaceTime call with Dr. Dre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIZS7Ttqhy0

 

[crsh1976]

To all the whiners; I'm sure the big guys at Apple have got a far better grasp of the deal and how an acquisition like this will be beneficial for their future plans.

Armchair professionals here with no idea

Eh, in this day and age of total shameless speculation that has little other point than massively garnishing a few selected people's bank accounts, one has to wonder just how far they're willing to go with the smoke screen.

Apple doesn't need Beats, but Beats sure would love to cash in before their trendy headphone fad goes out of style.

Remember, Beats isn't exceptional hardware, their music subscription service is lagging way behind and their "brand awareness/coolness" thing can't possibly rival Apple's (the almighty king of branding). If Apple was looking for a quick solution to improve iTunes Match, there are much better options out there.

 

[newyorksole]

Yikes . This Beats deal has brought out all the DownLow Racists .

 

[technopimp]

To all the whiners; I'm sure the big guys at Apple have got a far better grasp of the deal and how an acquisition like this will be beneficial for their future plans.

Armchair professionals here with no idea

Just because someone is an executive at a large corporation doesn't mean they have any clue as to what they're doing.

 

[osofast240sx]

Please delay forever. Beats is garbage to the core.

Explain ?

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Just because someone is an executive at a large corporation doesn't mean they have any clue as to what they're doing.

I totally agree but the people around them are the smart ones and that's who they take their advice from. But in this case Tim Cook has a very good track record and is a very smart man

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Eh, in this day and age of total shameless speculation that has little other point than massively garnishing a few selected people's bank accounts, one has to wonder just how far they're willing to go with the smoke screen.

Apple doesn't need Beats, but Beats sure would love to cash in before their trendy headphone fad goes out of style.

Remember, Beats isn't exceptional hardware, their music subscription service is lagging way behind and their "brand awareness/coolness" thing can't possibly rival Apple's (the almighty king of branding). If Apple was looking for a quick solution to improve iTunes Match, there are much better options out there.

Beats is a good speaker away from having a great headphone.

And Apple does need them Beats created a market that did not exist!

 

[ob81]

They keep posting every beats news tidbits because you guys keep clicking on it and commenting on it. This is a blog after all, and bloggers like hits.

GL with the sale beats by Dre.