--- description: The New York Post reports that Apple's offer for headphone and streaming service Beats Music will be $3 billion, down from $3.2 billion. title: Report: Apple-Beats Still Happening, But Only for $3 Billion image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e58ac6b50c81df8/69868be7169ab071bb278f07/apple.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Report: Apple-Beats Still Happening, But for a Little Less Cash by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 28, 2014 3:05 PM CUT  The Apple logo hangs inside the glass entrance to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York City. The Apple logo hangs inside the glass entrance to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York City.Mike Segar—Reuters by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 28, 2014 3:05 PM CUT Apple’s rumored [acquisition of Beats](http://time.com/93309/apple-buying-beats/ "undefined") may finally become official this week, [unnamed sources tell the New York _Post_](http://nypost.com/2014/05/27/apple-cuts-purchase-price-of-beats/ "undefined"). But instead of paying $3.2 billion as first reported by the _Financial Times_, the Post says Apple will offer $3 billion. One source said Apple hadn’t even done its due diligence yet when [news of the acquisition first leaked](http://time.com/93557/apple-beats/ "undefined"), and the relatively tiny number of Beats Music subscribers may have driven the price down over the last few weeks. According to [one report](http://thetrichordist.com/2014/05/10/q-when-does-0-000126-3-2-billion-a-when-apple-buys-beats-music/ "undefined"), Beats’ streaming service has just 110,000 paid subscribers, compared to [10 million for competitor Spotify](http://time.com/107335/spotify-subscribers/ "undefined"). Even at $3 billion, the acquisition would be Apple’s largest ever. The prevailing theories about the Apple/Beats deal are that Apple is interested in Beats’ luxury (and highly profitable) headphone business, its [cultural cachet](http://time.com/93476/apple-may-buy-beats-eletronics-to-boost-itunes/ "undefined") and [the talent](http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6099227/five-things-apple-beats-deal "undefined") of co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, who may have better luck negotiating music and video content deals on Apple’s behalf. Although the _Post_ reports that Apple could announce a deal this week, a reveal at next week’s [Worldwide Developers Conference](http://time.com/48133/apple-to-announce-new-goodies-at-june-developer-conference/ "undefined") may be more appropriate. The _Post_ says both Iovine and Dre will be in attendance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/123229/apple-beats-3-billion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/123229/apple-beats-3-billion/"},"headline":"Report: Apple-Beats Still Happening, But for a Little Less Cash","datePublished":"2014-05-28T15:05:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:00.551Z","description":"The New York Post reports that Apple's offer for headphone and streaming service Beats Music will be $3 billion, down from $3.2 billion.","url":"https://time.com/123229/apple-beats-3-billion/","keywords":["Tech","Apple","Music","Beats","TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e58ac6b50c81df8/69868be7169ab071bb278f07/apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jared Newman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jared-newman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e58ac6b50c81df8/69868be7169ab071bb278f07/apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Apple logo hangs inside the glass entrance to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York City.","caption":"The Apple logo hangs inside the glass entrance to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York City.","creditText":"Mike Segar—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/123229/apple-beats-3-billion/","name":"Report: Apple-Beats Still Happening, But for a Little Less Cash"}}]}] ```