Beats Audio, the company behind the popular headphones, has raised $60 million in funding led by billionaire Len Blavatnik. Blavatnik will be using the money to create a music streaming service called Daisy. Beats Audio was founded by music producer Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr. Dre.
Last year HTC spent $300 million to acquire a majority stake in Beats Audio. HTC has sold back 25% of Beats’ shares back to the company for $150 million. HTC and Beats are calling this deal a realignment, which “provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion.” HTC will remain as the single largest outside shareholder in the company with about 25% ownership of the company. HTC now has 75% of the company. HTC wil remain as the exclusive mobile device company to have Beats Audio. The two companies will be working on a joint marketing campaign later this year too.
MOG is a streaming music service that has been acquired by Beats Electronics. MOG is a subscription based streaming music service that is similar to Spotify, Rhapsody, and Rdio. MOG has a free ad-supported version of the service and an ad-free $4.99 per month web subscription. There is also an ad-free $9.99 per month web/mobile device subscription. The acquisition is happening just months after rumors floated that MOG was for sale. We first reported that Beats acquired MOG in March 2012, but now it is confirmed.
In the next round of new phones that HTC plans on releasing, they will not come with Beats headphones or earbuds. HTC is putting the idea of using Beats aside for now because they have learned their lesson from the Sensation XL and Rezound from last year. What they have learned is that customers do not choose smartphones based on the headphones that they come with.
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Beats Electronics, the speaker and headphones company, has acquired music subscription service MOG. HTC is the majority owner of Beats Electronics, which invested $300 million into the company. MOG currently has 500,000 active users.
[AllThingsD]
Beats by Dr. Dre is a company that was founded in 2008 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Beats by Dr. Dre is a brand of headphones and loud speakers and they worked closely with Monster Cable to manufacture to electronics. “Guys were making headphones that looked like medical equipment,” stated Iovine. Going forward, it appears that Beats by Dr. Dre will not be working with Monster due to financial disagreements.
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For a limited amount of time, you can buy Beats by Dre headphones in several colors and not just the black and white shades. The headphones are red, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, and silver for a price of $349.95. The headphones have a 1/8″ to 1/4″ adapter and a Monster iSoniTalk cable for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and other music players. The headphones have powered sound isolation technology that runs off a pair of AAA batteries. The headphones come with a carrying case and a cleaning cloth. [SlashGear]
HTC is preparing a new phone called the Sensation Special Edition and it is supposed to come with Beats by Dr. Dre audio built in. The details were grabbed from a flyer that was leaked by CNET. The new Sensation is supposed to have a faster CPU, more internal storage, and a higher-capacity batter.
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