Apple has just announced that it has completed its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics.
The deal, which was first announced last May, brings Beats' portfolio of speakers, headphones and streaming products to the Apple fold.
Apple confirmed it latest acquisition through a welcome page posted on its website.
"Today we are excited to officially welcome Beats Music and Beats Electronic to the Apple family," the company said. "Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we're thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do. Beats cofounders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have created beautiful products that have helped millions people deepen their connection to music. We're delighted to be working with the team to elevate that experience even further," the company said.
The message ended with a link to the Beats by Dre website. According to the terms of the agreement, the Beats online store has now been closed. All orders will now go through Apple's online store. To accommodate the changes, Beats has also changed its privacy policy.
Beats Electronics also posted a note confirming the close of the deal on its website. In the message, the company gave a brief rundown of Apple's most successful music devices, saying that its products will soon be at the same footing as iPods.
Regulators in the US and the UK gave the go signal for the acquisition earlier this week. Earlier this week, several reports claimed that Apple was cutting 200 of the 700 jobs employees it will inherit from the acquisition. In Beats' restructuring shuffle, several departments are expected to be the prime targets for job cuts. These include Beats' human resources, finance and customer support. Apple has reportedly started laying off employees. Those who survive the first round of job cuts are expected to join Apple temporarily before being laid off on January 31 next year. To help Beats employees included in the job cuts, Apple has set up a phone hotline to inform workers about severance packages.
The employees that will survive the layoffs will have to relocate to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California. However, some Beats employees will continue working in the company's office in Culver City, California.
