Apple’s Beats acquisition ‘is complicated’, could be delayed due to valuation, roles and more

Many reports were released last week, claiming that Apple’s oft-rumored Beats acquisition wouldn’t be finalized until this week. The week is now coming to close (at least in the United States), and we have yet to here anything official.  A new report published this afternoon says that the deal has been delayed for a variety of reasons, including valuation, roles, and more.

The report comes from Billboard, and their sources say that the deal “is complicated” due to it being Apple’s largest acquisition. The report also says that news of the deal hit the internet “too early” and that Apple was in reality no where near ready to break the news. Also potentially to blame was a YouTube video that included Tyrese and Dr. Dre, with the latter claiming to be the first billionaire in Hip Hop after the deal.
Apple was outraged apparently outraged at this video, according to the report:

Apparently, the Apple family near imploded with outrage when that video went up on Facebook of an ‘excited’ Dr. Dre with R&B singer/former Coca Cola pin-up Tyrese. In the video they share, in language perhaps unsuitable for a family blog, how Dre will be hip-hop’s first billionaire and other nice things about Compton.

The video, as mentioned (NSFW language):
It’s said that the Cuportino company might also be concerned that the Beats duo, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, might not fit the Apple “corporate climate” very well. Apparently, Apple hasn’t yet decided whether to give the pair positions on Apple’s executive board, or to simply grant them permanent consultant roles. This, interestingly, contradicts reports that said having them on board would be one of the deal’s biggest benefits.
Finally, Beats Music is also said to be potentially causing a hangup, specifically Apple’s valuation of the service. Beats Music has almost a quarter-million subscribers and has been rumored as another potential main reason for the acquisition, but Apple supposedly intends to keep the service completely independent as to not cause harm to already-dropping iTunes music sales.
Notably, Apple pundit John Gruber had other thoughts, saying that Billboard completely botched the report:

Steve Jobs did not “shake things up massively on a daily basis”, and my guess is, he would have been more pissed off than anyone at Apple regarding Beats’ leaking of the deal to the press. And it seems pretty clear that that’s what happened. It wasn’t Apple that leaked, it was Beats, and their leaking it might have scuttled the deal.

What’s your take?
[via Billboard]

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