Apple Music Boss Jimmy Iovine Possibly Leaving Apple This Year

Jimmy Iovine, the face of Apple’s music streaming service, is reportedly planning on leaving Apple later this year. He’s apparently going to do that after his Apple shares fully vest. Iovine joined Apple back in 2014 when he and Dr. Dre sold the headphone maker Beats to Apple for $3 billion.

Iovine and Dr. Dre co-founded beats in 2008. That’s how they moved into the consumer electronics space. The pair bought the struggling MOG music streaming service in 2012 and later launched their own Beats Music service. The entire company was then sold to Apple in 2014 for $3 billion.

Former Interscope CEO Jimmy Iovine has been with Apple since 2014 when he joined after Beats was acquired by Apple. Billboard hears from sources that Iovine’s August 2018 departure is timed with his Apple shares fully vesting. Apple hasn’t commented on the report and neither has Iovine personally.

Since he has been leading the company’s music streaming service, Apple Music has grown to more than 30 million paying subscribers after it was launched in June 2015. The success is partly attributed to Iovine’s focus on content which includes the development of original programming.

It’s unclear what Iovine is going to do after he leaves Apple. The report also doesn’t mention if Apple has any intention of bringing in someone else to step into his role once he leaves.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Apple Music, beats