Apple is close to buying Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, according to a report late Thursday in theFinancial Times. Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have since confirmed the report with their own sources.
The deal would mark Apple's largest acquisition to date by far and comes at a time when other tech giants like Google and Facebook are spending billions on acquisitions like Nest and WhatsApp, respectively.
Beats was founded by rapper Dr. Dre and famed producer Jimmy Iovine. The company sells a near-ubiquitous line of headphones and earlier this year launched a music streaming service similar to Spotify, though the latter has reportedly gotten off to a bit of a rocky start.
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The deal could be announced as soon as next week, according to the reports, though The Timesreports hearing from a source that the deal could fall through. As part of the deal, Apple would acquire both the company's audio hardware and streaming service. Beats could provide Apple with additional talent and resources for designing hardware like wearable devices. The deal could be also useful in helping Apple to improve iTunes and iTunes Radio in particular, and better adapt as consumers shift from downloads to streaming.
A rep for Apple declined to comment on the reports. Beats did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Apple has ramped up its pace of acquisitions in recent months. CEO Tim Cook has said in the past that he's open to the idea of making a 10-figure acquisitions.
Apple stock was down by a little less than 0.5% in after hours trading following the report.
Credit: Mashable
