BeatsByDre Receives Reported $500 Million Investment
Beats Electronics, which was founded by Dr.Dre & Jimmy Lovine; has announced that the Caryle Group has agreed to make an investment in the successful audio company. Bloomberg & the Wall Street Journal estimate the private firm’s investment to be around $500 Million. Also, Beats has announced that the company is set to reacquire it’s minority stake held by HTC Corp, which was 24.84% at $265 million. Definitely big power moves being made by Beats, read more below.
“These transactions represent the evolution of the financial strength and significant growth prospects of Beats,” Jimmy Iovine, Beats CEO, said in a statement. “Carlyle is a fantastic investment partner and we look forward to building the next chapter of Beats.”
The Carlyle Group, which Private Equity International ranked as the second largest private equity firm in the world and is known for its association with powerful political figures, has $180 billion of assets under management as of June 2013. The deal with Beats, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, is thought to help the company expand its reach internationally.
“Carlyle has a strong history of helping great brands expand globally,” Carlyle managing director and head of consumer and retail Sandra Horbach said in a statement, “and we are thrilled to partner with Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre and their talented management and product teams.”
According the Journal, Beats is working on expanding its senior management team, which currently comprises Iovine, Mr. Young, and Luke Wood, its president, and is likely to announce some new appointments in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investment does not impact Beats Music, which spun off earlier this year which and is in the process of beefing-up its Beats Music streaming service, set to launch later this year. In March, Beats Music received a $60 million investment from a consortium led by Access Industries, Len Blavatnik’s investment group, which owns Warner Music Group.
Beats confirmed the Carlyle investment but declined comment for this story
