Dr. Dre Beats Electronics, founded by legendary rapper Dr.Dre, could sell to Apple for a reported $3.2 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times. Beats is the largest brand in the headphones market, having a hold on about 27 percent of the market share.
The deal is still in the discussion stages. If it does go through, it would represent the largest acquisition by Apple.
Beats Electronics took a $500M investment from the private equity firm Carlyle Group in September which that put its valuation at about $1 billion. This deal could also make Dr. Dre the first rapper to become a billionaire, pushing him past current No. 1, Sean "Puffy" Combs, who has a net worth of about $700 million.
The deal would cement Apple as the premier technology firm for music, a title that it claimed in the early 2000s by inventing the iPod and iTunes.
Struggling handset maker HTC owned half of Beats Electronics until very recently. The company sold half of its stake for $150 million in early 2013, and then sold the remaining 25 percent in September for $265 million concurrent with the Carlyle investment. Once a leader in the Android market, HTC has seen its revenue and its share of the global smartphone market decline despite relatively well-received handsets, and could have definitely used a $1.6 billion payday.
Meanwhile, looks like Dre will have plenty of money to buy Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen's house.
According to TMZ, Brady is close to selling his 18,700-square-foot mansion to Dr. Dre. Dre, whose real name is Andre Romelle Young, is buying the house but passing on the decor. Brady nad Bundchen built from the ground-up after buying the land in 2008 and completed construction in five years.
According to TMZ, there were "multiple interested parties ready to put offers on the house," but Dre was the first to come in with a respectable offer.
