Original post (1/5)…
The man that essentially put Beats By Dre on the map — and nearly making Dr. Dre a billionaire in the process — is slated to leave his post at Apple.
Jimmy Iovine, former CEO at Interscope Records, is preparing to split from Apple Music in August, Billboard is reporting. Iovine, who has been at Apple Music since 2014 following the Beats brand’s sale to Apple for $3 billion, is believed to be departing once his Apple shares fully vested. Vesting is also common in retirement plans, and as Iovine turns 65 in March that could also become a possibility.
After introducing Beats By Dre to the public in 2008, in 2012 Dre and Jimmy bought the music streaming service MOG and and converted it to Beats Music. They then sold the entire company to Apple, landing both stake and positions within the company. The Defiant Ones, a 2017 documentary on HBO, chronicled Iovine and Dre’s career and intersecting relationship.
This news comes following the announcement that Apple Music’s rival, Spotify, has amassed 70 million subscribers. Apple Music reported 30 million subscribers in September 2017.
UPDATE (1/9): Four days after the rumor started to spread, Jimmy Iovine shuts it all down while talking to Variety.
“I am almost 65, have been with Apple for four years, and in two and a half years, the [Apple Music] service has gotten to well over 30 million subscribers and Beats has continued its successful run,” he said. “But there’s still a lot more we’d like to do. I am committed to doing whatever Eddy [Cue], Tim [Cook] and Apple need me to do, to help wherever and however I can, to take this all the way. I am in the band.”
