Apple to Lay Off Around 200 Beats Employees: Reports

Apple intends to lay off about 200 people at Beats Electronics LLC following its $3 billion acquisition of the headphone and music streaming services company, Bloomberg cited a person with knowledge of the restructuring as saying.

The job cuts will mainly hit human resources, finance and other departments with significant overlap between the two, the news agency reported.

Apple-focussed website 9to5Mac independently reported the same:

Apple executives have visited Beats' Southern California headquarters this week and last week to offer groups of employees positions at Apple and to notify some members of the Beats staff that they will not be included in the transition.

An email from Apple CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year that Beats hardware employees would transition to Phil Schiller's team in Cupertino, and indeed that seems to be the case, as the report adds that many Beats employees will be absorbed at Apple's office in Cupertino, while some will continue to work out of Southern California.

"Many Beats employees in development and creative roles have been offered positions at Apple," the report said. "Many of these employees will be offered space in Apple's Cupertino offices, but Apple is said to plan to retain the Santa Monica offices, and select engineers on the Beats Music streaming service will continue working out of Southern California."

While initially there was some speculation around the future of Beats Chief Creative Officer Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) and Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers, 9to5Mac updated its initial report to confirm that the duo will indeed join Apple.

Apple's largest acquisition in decades, announced in May, lands the iPhone maker a fast-growing music subscription business, executives like Jimmy Iovine with strong ties to the recording industry, and a line of premium headphones.