Apple officially confirms Beats Music, Beats Electronics acquisition for $3B – Here’s the deal

Apple has officially announced that it will indeed acquire Beats Music, as well as Beats Electronics, for a total of $3 billion.

The Apple-Beats deal has been highly mediatized recently, and now it's finally official. The acquisition price consist of $2.6 billion up front, followed by roughly $400 million over time. Beats co-founders, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, will also be joining Apple.

In its announcement, Apple seems to be focusing on the purchase of Beats Music, not Beats Electronics. This falls in line with previous reports claiming that Beats Music was the reason why Apple wanted to acquire Beats.

"Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in the press release. "That's why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world."

"I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple," added Jimmy Iovine. "The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple's unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple's deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special."

"Music is such an important part of Apple's DNA and always will be," continued Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats, and of course buying music from the iTunes Store as customers have loved to do for years."

Apple also mentioned Beats Electronics in the release, touting how popular the Beats headphones have become since they launched five years ago. If this is any indication, more Beats hardware should launch under Apple's leadership as well.

The company did not offer many other details at this point regarding its exact plans for Beats. Nevertheless, Apple is holding its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) next week, where it is expected to provide more information on the future of Beats.

According to Apple, the purchase of Beats Music and Beats Electronics should complete by the fourth quarter of this year, as it is still subject to the necessary regulatory approval for now.