For those unfamiliar with Jimmy Iovine, he’s a pretty big name in the music industry as not only is he the chairman of the Universal Music Group, whose labels houses acts like Lady Gaga and Eminem, but he’s also the boss of Beats Electronics, the man behind the highly popular Beats by Dre set of headphones.
Now according to recent rumors, it seems that Iovine could soon be coming on board Apple where he will serve alongside Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, as a “special adviser”, although the specifics of the position was not mentioned. It should be noted that Iovine has worked with Apple in the past, and at one point even tried to pitch a music subscription service to Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs.
Rumors of Iovine hopping on board Apple follows yesterday’s big rumor, which suggested that Apple could be interested in acquiring Beats for a whopping $3.2 billion, making it one of Apple’s largest acquisitions to date. Then again Apple is sitting on a huge pile of cash, so we guess they should make use of it.
Beats’ role in Apple’s future remains a mystery, since Apple’s acquisitions have typically revolved around acquiring technology and patents, as opposed to actual consumer products like. Some have speculated it could be about Beats Music, which is a little odd given that Apple already has iTunes Radio.
In any case the deal is said to be announced next week, if it is true at all. Iovine’s contract with Universal Music Group will run until the end of the year, so if he does come aboard Apple, it might not be anytime soon.
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