Dr Dre is about to become hip hop’s first billionaire as Apple is set to buy the headphone maker Beats Electronics for $3.2bn (£1.9bn). The Financial Times says the deal could be announced as early as next week, making the deal Apple’s largest acquisition.
Founded by rapper and music producer Dr Dre and fellow music producer Jimmy Iovine in 2008, the firm produces ‘Beats by Dr Dre’ headphones and also runs a music streaming service.
Beats Electronics received a $500m (£295m) investment from Carlyle Group last September, valuing the company at more than $1bn.
It has been reported that Apple is contemplating rolling out a music-on-demand-service to rival Spotify.
In a video posted by singer Tyrese Gibson, Dr Dre boasts that he is “the first billionaire in hip hop”.
He then laughs as Gibson says: “Billionaire boys club for real, homie. The Forbes list just changed.… Sh*t just changed!”
“The first billionaire in hip hop, right here from the motherf*cking West Coast!” adds Dre.
It’s possible that lawyers involved in the pending deal got nervous — because the celebratory video was pulled from Gibson’s Instagram and Facebook accounts overnight.
Dre, a former member of NWA, compared his company to Apple in an interview in 2011. He said:
“We’re trying to eventually be second to Apple. And I don’t think that’s a bad position.”
Am glad his efforts finally paid off. It shows success does not hide..
Confirm this is good