A couple of days shy of closing its acquisition of the company, Apple is reportedly laying off 200 employees from Beats Electronics.
Job cuts are standard in mergers and it looks like Apple is not taking a different route. In the latest round of tech company layoffs, Apple will be doing some restructuring and 200 positions are in its line of sight. Like any effort to streamline a business, the company will be laying off employees whose job roles overlap.
Affected departments include finance, human resources and support. Some have already been laid off while others are retained until Jan. 31, 2015. Apple has a phone hotline that employees from Beats can use to inquire about severance packages and transition plans.
Costing $3 billion, the Beats acquisition was the biggest for Apple so far. Announced in May, it is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 1. Aside from expanding Apple's headphone share in the market, it also gave the company a music streaming service. Apple has not ventured into the music streaming business because it did not want to affect digital download sales for iTunes.
The European Union approved the acquisition because it doesn't affect headphone competition, with the combined Apple-Beats market share relatively low. In addition, Apple and Beats headphones are different. Major competitors like Sony, Sennheiser and Bose will still be a part of the market after acquisition is finalized.
Typical of acquisitions, most of the employees retained at Beats will be moving to Cupertino where the Apple headquarters is located. Beats' offices in Culver City will remain open though some engineers will remain working on the company's music streaming services out of Santa Monica.
Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young, Beats co-founders, will, of course, be part of the move to Cupertino. Key figures in the company like Chief Creative Officer Trent Reznor, Ian Rogers and Luke Wood are on-board as well.
CEO Tim Cook is optimistic about acquiring Beats. "Beats Music was built with deep respect for both artists and fans. We think it's the first subscription service to really get it right. Both Apple and Beats believe that a great music service requires a strong editorial and curation team, and we will continue to expand what we do in those areas. The addition of Beats will make our incredible iTunes lineup even better, extending the emotional connection our customers have with music.," he said in a memo to Apple employees.
