“Apple Inc. is losing the public face of its music operations,” Tripp Mickle and Anne Steele report for The Wall Street Journal. “Executive Jimmy Iovine will transition into a consulting role in August and step back from daily involvement with the company’s streaming-music business, according to people familiar with his plans.”
“Mr. Iovine is one of the last of a team of prominent music executives Apple gained when it bought Beats Electronics LLC in 2014 for $3 billion,” Mickle and Steele report. “The departures raise questions about the lasting value of Apple’s largest deal at a time when its acquisitions strategy is attracting new interest with the planned repatriation of some $250 billion in cash it has held overseas”
“While the Beats deal jump-started Apple’s music-streaming business and eliminated a competitor, Apple had to revamp the first version of Apple Music because of design problems. Original video programming later pushed by Mr. Iovine also received critical reviews,” Mickle and Steele report. “‘If you ask the question, ‘Did they need Beats?’ the answer is no,’ said Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures, a venture-capital firm specializing in tech research. ‘They didn’t need it to get to where they’ve gone in music, and the existing Beats business has not done well.'”
Iovine “has told people close to him that he plans to spend more time with his family while supporting Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple Music, as needed, the people said,” Mickle and Steele report. “The timing of Mr. Iovine’s move, however, is linked to the Apple shares he received in the Beats acquisition, which will fully vest in August, they said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Buh-bye.
Jimmy Iovine could be effectively replaced simply by setting a large bucket at the rear end of a bull. — MacDailyNews, January 4, 2018
We’ve always had the inkling that Steve Jobs understood exactly what Jimmy Iovine was, but that, perhaps, Jimmy bamboozled Tim Cook with bullshit. $3 billion for Beats was a wild overpayment for shitty headhones and a music service with no subscribers. — MacDailyNews, June 9, 2015
Not all RDFs are created equal. Be careful, Jimmy. There’s a fine line between operating a functional RDF and a dump truck full of bullshit. – MacDailyNews, May 29, 2014
SEE ALSO:
Jimmy Iovine denies rumor that he’s leaving Apple in August – January 10, 2018
As Spotify crosses 70 million paid subscribers, distant #2 Apple Music’s Jimmy Iovine reportedly to bow out – January 5, 2018
Apple Music chief Jimmy Iovine may leave the company in August; departure timed to his shares fully vesting – January 4, 2018
Dr. Dre to star in Apple’s first, sex-soaked scripted television series ‘Vital Signs’ – February 12, 2016
Jimmy Iovine brings his own brand of ‘reality distortion field’ to Apple – May 29, 2014
Apple’s Dr. Dre apologizes for past abuse of women, Apple issues statement – August 21, 2015
Hiring Iovine was one of THE worst decisions Apple ever made. Dude is a complete clown..
None of those Beats loose canon clowns was exactly a fit at Apple nor could they have expected to be.
Why is it those at the highest positions of authority at Apple can’t see the obvious the rest of us can from the get-go?
… and while you are at it Pipeline, show that fake do-nothing imposter Ahrendts the door too.
Pipeline gets bullshited by everyone … Iovine, Ahrendts, Obama, Hillary, Pelosi and all the other assclowns.
I’m not surprised. Not much of what Apple has done over the past several years has been particularly bold, innovative, or even smart, particularly if Eddie Cue has been involved. The beats thing felt like half virtue signaling / half elitist circle jerk from the start. Apple will never be Apple without Jobs, alas. That era is just behind us now.
$3 billion for cheap head phones… that sound like crap.
Tim Cook, Steve’s worst mistake.
Worse than that… $3B for EXPENSIVE headphones… that sound like crap.
I’m sooo ready for Mr Cook to leave.
But as long as the money is coming in, I’m sure the board is gonna keep him around. Let him keep tarnishing Apples reputation when the quality keeps dropping and the embarrassments keep piling on.
MGA: Dump Pipeline Timmy.™
“Any other CEO would have destroyed the legacy of the Jobs.”
Excuse me, the legacy of Jobs under Clueless Cook has been destroyed byte by byte since he took over.
If you have not felt the “magic” of Apple is GONE and it just does not work anymore releasing half baked software with bugs, then you must have been living deep in a cave …
“‘If you ask the question, ‘Did they need Beats?’ the answer is no,’ said Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures, a venture-capital firm specializing in tech research. ‘They didn’t need it to get to where they’ve gone in music, and the existing Beats business has not done well.’”
Exactly what I have been saying here since this stupid deal was announced. Apple flushed $3 Billion +/- down the toilet that could have been spent in any number of more profitable ways.
Apple’s algorithm for determining music I like sucks. And I mean really sucks. It’s like they push a heavy rotation of black rap from artists I NEVER listen to. Just really weird and feels like I’m being spoon fed what I should be listening to rather than the algorithm learning my tastes.
Here is lots of a**holes who are against Tim Cook and it is time for you to fuc* off.
Tim Cook is doing fantastically excellent job. The company is the best run company in the world and is in excellent financial shape. Any other CEO would have destroyed the legacy of the Jobs.
Not too sure what you guys are talking about with beats being a waste. They bought it for the streaming music platform which they transitioned to Apple music within a year which now has 29m paying subscribers globally at $10.00-$15.00 a month. So they are making the money spent on beats back yearly just on that investment alone. Not to mention allowing access to the ecosystem to develop the w1 chip which is still years ahead of anything else coming out from any other company and contribution to the sale of 20m+ AirPods a year. not to mention the $500m+ a year in beats headphones they sell.
There is nothing other than the brand that they could not have done more easily and better on their own. The brand is nothing special and stands for the shittiest headphones ever sold this side of a Dollar Store: Wal-Mart performance at Bose prices.
Apple could have easily updated the contracts with the record labels and kept it all unde the iTunes umbrella. Buying Beats was a waste of money & Iovine did nothing that anyone can point to as making Apple’s products better or more profitable.
you are confusing revenues with profits.
You spend profits (to buy beats for example)
the $10 a month Apple Music subscription is revenue where you have to minus expenses like fees to artists to get profits. the profits are way less than $10.
Spotify, Pandora lose money. Spotify has more paid subscribers than Apple and is more careful with expenditure than Iovine and yet it makes no profit. Iovine had a habit giving huge payouts to artists . If you read his interviews in Billboard etc he’s more interested in helping the music industry than Apple. Because Apple Music probably makes no money tim Cook echoed this ‘helping music industry’ sentiment recently:
“”You’re right, we’re not in it for the money. I think it’s important for artists. If we’re going to continue to have a great creative community, [artists] have to be funded,”
Tim cook.
At best Apple Music is a loss leader to support the iOS ecosystem.
———
I agree though that Beats is profitable as Beats was profitable when they bought it . Google bought Nest for 3 billion as well which made about a third Beats revenue at the time so Nest was actually a worse investment.
I suggest that those who constantly criticize Iovine go and look at his impressive resume and musical accomplishments. There are good reasons for Apple to have wanted him.
His resume looks like a hanger-on. Tell him to pick up a Strat or Les Paul and play me a song he wrote.
Let’s hear hear it for Jimmy! The man who personally killed the paid download cash cow while letting Spotify eat Apple’s lunch. The headphones were one (shiity) thing, letting Apple fall from the undisputed music industry leader to a distant 2nd place despite a HUGE user base was quite another. Bringing on this shyster was Tim Cook’s biggest mistake.
Tim Cook is not a product man (Jobs words) but he choose him for all the qualities he possesses. Also morally he is an example. He is doing extremely well serving the greatest company in the world. Hopefully the negative trend Macdailynews preaches will stop anytime soon. I am 72 years old and worked for them before theMac came out in 84. Always been a big fan and still are.
I don’t believe that you are 72; You are 71.
In no way, shape or form could anybody have stopped streaming. Times do change.
Ever check out the Radio section in Apple Music? I checked Apple Music Pop, Best of the Week, just to check again. I loathe rap music, so I didn’t pick Hip-Hop, but just Pop. Yet, just as AustinX wrote above, it’s “a heavy rotation of black rap from artists I NEVER listen to.” Appalling, disgusting lyrics to horrible songs that I would never deliberately want to play in my house or ears. Putting the letter “E” next to the song does not justify using “n*gger” and vile sexist terms for women repeated over and over like tribal mantras.
The Apple rental rap store- for those too broke to buy their music and for rap not worth paying for.
Bingo. My point exactly