A streaming service was exactly what Apple needed to compete with the likes of Spotify, Google, Rdio (RIP) and others. Dre) would become an employee, working alongside Vice President of Services Eddy Cue and Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on the hardware side. That resume was also a key component of the Apple deal, as Iovine (and Dr. He's unquestionably one of the most notable music producers of the 1980s. Heck, he's worked with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks (whom he also dated), U2 and more. Iovine's experience as a producer, label executive and businessman would set the tone for Beats' success. But as the industry inched its way into the streaming age, it would follow in early 2014 with Beats Music. Beats initially focused on headphones and speakers, and in 2012 the company would grab 64% of the $100-and-up headphone market. The Interscope records co-founder started the company alongside the rapper/producer in 2006. Jimmy Iovine is just as important to the Beats story as Dr. 'I had been wanting to work with Apple, at that point, it's probably 10 years,' Iovine said in an interview for the show. You can hear the story from Iovine on the first episode of HBO's The Defiant Ones, but his side isn't any less insane. 'This thing has leaked, this thing is loud.' He said he warned Dre 'don't move' that weekend. 'We had gone for like six weeks without it leaking,' Iovine explained. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Diddy, Puffy) called him, yelling, around 2AM. He found out about the video when Sean Combs (P. Perhaps the best account of those events comes from Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine. That price tag still represents Apple's most expensive acquisition. The official announcement wouldn't come until May 28th, when Apple put a bow on its $3 billion purchase with a press release and photo. It was objectively a crazy thing to watch unfold. It's one thing to discuss sensitive business info in a celebratory social post, but it's another thing entirely to basically announce the deal was done. That is, until the bombastic Facebook post that was only live for an (understandably) short time. Even though the rumblings started a month earlier, both companies remained silent. Financial Times may have been the first to report Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics was a done deal, but Bloomberg, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were also quite sure pens had met paper. By this point in early May, the rumors were all but confirmed.

Gross beat buy