A chapter in Tripp Mickle’s book reveals how the infamous rapper Dr. Dre lost $200 million when he revealed the Beats partnership with Apple prematurely.
Chapter 10 of ‘After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul’ detailed the early celebration and how the brand lost $200 million when it was acquired by Apple in 2014.
The content showed how Beats executive Jimmy Iovine convinced Tim Cook, Apple CEO to buy Beats Electronics and Beats Music. Initially, internal staff rebelled against the decision but it somehow pushed through to the tune of more than $3 billion.
Iovine then told the Beats staff to keep mum about the deal to prevent it from falling through. The next day, he received a call about a video posted on social media, with Dr. Dre giving himself the title of ‘first billionaire in hip hop’.
The deal still managed to push through, and was rebranded into Apple Music, Beats products and the Beats 1 radio station, although Dr. Dre lost $200 million in the process.
