Damn....just beat out Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Master P, and Diddy for the title. Apple just bought his company Beats Audio for 3.2 Billion!
You dummy.
Is he the only owner?
Of course not? You think that fucking idiot could single handedly do that? He was merely approached, like 50 cent was with vitamin water, to get involved in a deal. Their name was what was desired, not their fucking business skills. 50 cent can barely speak. I bet Dre has very little involvement in the running of the business or design decisions. Luckily, both rappers had good handlers around them to advise in getting involved.
Its a Minority Owned company (PE Backed, VC Backed). The "money" ownership behind it is the The Carlyle Group. Jimmy Iovine is the brains behind it who got Dre on-board. He's the real mogul. Its based in Cali. It's was affiliate company of Monster Inc (think high end components, cables) who they later basically hijacked shit from and then dropped partnership with, left Monster bitter. It realy started as a Monster project with endorsements by the likes of Dre. It's parent company is now Apple. That pie has to get cut up a lot of ways. Dre's is probably not that large. I highly doubt he's 50/50 ownership stake in the end but I dont know. Props to him for not being a fucking idiot when being approached for this deal. But he's no fucking business mogul.
Jimmy Iovine is a mogul par excellence; a man who helped mastermind the works of Bruce Springsteen and 50 Cent alike, co-produced 8 Mile, and today sits as the Chairman of Interscope Records.
Monster bristles at the suggestion that Beats had everything, even anything to do with engineering: "Absolutely not, they don't have any engineers," says Noel. Kevin piles on: "Beats [had] zero [engineering role]," a reality of the deal he says is "undisputed—Monster engineered the sound in Beats by Dre headphones. They told us what they wanted and they approved it, but we made that sound possible." That "approval" role is one that's repeated throughout Noel and Kevin's recounting: They brought hardware to Jimmy and Dre, there would be a back and forth, and off the headphones would go to someone's credit card bill, carried by a gust of music video bluster and rapper aspiration. It worked so, so well.
Update: doesnt matter what is % is really. He's still going to make a lot.
In April, Forbes estimated his net worth at $550 million. Apple’s Beats purchase would increase that figure significantly, although it’s not certain it would push him over the billionaire threshold. His actual stake in Beats is unknown, although he and Mr. Iovine combines reportedly own a majority of the company. And Dr. Dre wouldn’t have to be a majority owner to become a billionaire: At Apple’s purchase price, a 15 percent stake of Beats would give him the $450 million he needs for a $1 billion net worth.
President and COO Luke Wood and co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Wood is former chief strategy officer of Interscope Geffen A&M. All Dre did in this thing was sit there and let his image and reputation spur the fucking urban style horseshit adoption of these fucking ridiculous ear cups. Right place, right time, right skin color.
* Alpine drops the mic and walks off stage
