By Avaneesh Pandey - Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL is planning to lay off about 200 people in the coming months following its acquisition of Beats Electronics, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The report, citing a person familiar with the company’s restructuring process, said that employees with overlapping job functions --in the finance and human resources departments -- will be the ones to lose their jobs. According to a report published on 9to5Mac -- an Apple-focused technology news website -- these departments at Beats Electronics have been dismantled and some workers have already been laid off while a few have been retained until the end of January 2015.
The report also stated that Beats’ co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young -- popularly known as Dr Dre -- will reportedly continue working in some capacity at Apple for the foreseeable future. Apple, in May, announced its $3 billion acquisition of the headphones and music company, making it the largest deal in Apple’s history.
Apple reportedly had over 41,000 employees as of June-end.
Announcing the acquisition, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said in a press release at the time that music has always been an “important part of Apple’s DNA” and that “The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats.”
The European Commission -- the European Union’s anti-trust regulator -- on Monday approved Apple’s acquisition of Beats.
Besides the transitioning of employees between the two companies, Apple is also expected to integrate the Beats' music technology to its own iTunes infrastructure. The two are, as of now, not easily compatible, 9to5Mac reported.