Apple set to acquire Beats by Dre

According to reports, Apple is set to buy Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. Various publications reported, late Thursday that the deal was close to its closing stages. Should the deal be successful, the acquisition would mark the tech giant’s largest acquisition to date, following in the footsteps of other giants in Silicon Valley, like Google and Facebook, recently spending billions on buys like Nest and WhatsApp, respectively.

Founded by rap legend Dr Dre and producer Jimmy Lovine, Beats Electronic, sell a near-ubiquitous line of headphones, Beats, by Dre. Recently, the company announced the launch of its new music streaming service, The Beats Music App. A streaming service similar to Spotify; it has launched with some glitches, and there is hope that the deal with Apple will help the company deal with the app’s glitches and make it work better.

According to reports, the deal could be announced as early as next week, even though there are reports that the deal could still fall through should the last minute details not be agreed upon.

The deal would see Apple acquiring both the company’s audio hardware and streaming service. Beats by Dre, on the other hand, is looking to provide Apple with additional human and talent resources for design; Apple is currently looking at designing hardware like wearable technology. Other benefits highlighted include Apple’s benefit: the deal could help the tech giant improve its iTunes and iTunes Radio to an enabling system that is better able to adapt as consumers shift to streaming.