“Apple is cutting around 200 jobs at Beats Electronics as it prepares to close on its $3 billion purchase of the audio equipment and music-streaming company, The Post has learned,” Claire Atkinson reports for The New York Post. “The cuts, ahead of the Aug. 1 closing of the deal, amount to about 40 percent of Beats’ global workforce, sources said.”
“The Beats buy is widely aimed at giving Apple a fresh impetus in connecting with a hip design-focused consumer — as well as a toehold in the rapidly expanding streaming music world,” Atkinson reports. “‘Last week everyone was given an offer from Apple. Some were transitional offers with a set end date,’ a source close to the situation said.”
“Beats’ management — including music chiefs Luke Wood and Ian Rogers and creative boss Trent Reznor — will join Apple, according to Beats insiders,” Atkinson reports. “News of an unspecified number of layoffs at Beats was first reported in tech blog 9To5Mac.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Many Beats employees in development and creative roles have been offered positions at Apple. Many of these employees will be offered space in Apple’s Cupertino offices, but Apple is said to plan to retain the Santa Monica offices, and select engineers on the Beats Music streaming service will continue working out of Southern California,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac. “An email from Apple CEO Tim Cook detailed earlier this year that Beats hardware employees would transition to Phil Schiller’s team in Cupertino, so it seems likely that the headphone and speaker makers will make up the majority of the new Cupertino staff.”
“Beats’ support, finance and HR departments are said to have already been largely dismantled, with some workers being laid off in the past few weeks, a few offered definite positions in Cupertino, and others being offered positions until the end of January 2015,” Gurman reports. “Apple is said to have this week set up a dedicated phone hotline for Beats employees to speak with Apple Human Resources staff about severance packages or transition plans.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good luck to all those affected except for those from Beats Electronics’ Department of Overmodulated Bass, in which case: Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]