Business Of Stars – Dr. Dre: The Deal With Apple That Boosted His Wealth

Sometimes you find a company, and you don’t even think that one day, this company may be acquired by a conglomerate with the profits reaching a large sum of money. Dr. Dre is a famous rapper who made his debut at the beginning of the 80s. During his career, he soon realized that he couldn’t get the best he wanted from the record companies with which he had partnerships. So, in 1996 he decided to found his own record company giving it the name ”Aftermath Entertainment.” The company gained success, hosted the artistic work of many well-known hip-hop artists, and saw its cashiers fill with money. A lucky path opened for Dr. Dre when Apple focused on his business activities.
It was that time when Dr. Dre co-owned with Jimmy Iovine a company which was named ”Beats”, and it consisted of two branches, Beats Music και Beats Electronics. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook showed interest in Dr. Dre’s company, Beats, and did not let the time pass without making the appropriate movements to achieve his goal.
Discussions for the acquisition of Beats Music και Beats Electronics by Apple paid off, and in 2014 Apple made a generous proposal to Dr. Dre to purchase Beats Music και Beats Electronics. As it was announced, the deal was about 3 billion dollars. Not bad for an artist who, till then, may have gained a lot of money from his record company but also invested a lot of money in his personal career.
However, a thoughtless move from Dr. Dre was the reason for Apple to cut the amount of money by 200 million dollars. Although it was discussed between the two parties that nothing should be leaked about the deal until Apple was ready to announce it officially, Dr. Dre did something that almost threatened the deal. What was this?
During a celebration, Dr. Dre was exposed when one of his famous quests and co-artists revealed that he was now the first richest man of hip-hop music and should be included in the list of Forbes billionaires. This video was forwarded to the internet, and soon after, everybody saw it and, of course, Apple’s executives. In fact, Dr. Dre did not do anything to stop his guest from revealing his secret (although he did not mention any details), and he confirmed that all this was true.
Tim Cook did not seem to get annoyed to a large extent. Instead, he asked to meet Dr. Dre. In this meeting, Tim Cook reduced his initial offer by 200 million dollars, and everything went as it was arranged at first. This was not such a comfortable moment for Dr. Dre, but luck was by his side.
Dr. Dre comes from Los Angeles, California. Initially, he was performing as a group with some other artists. In 1992 he made his first steps as a solo musician, releasing his first songs professionally. At this time, his career started. Also, he played the role of the producer for the records of other artists till the day he founded his own record company in around 2000.

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