In a conversation on Bloomberg, Tony Ponturo, Group Partner and Producer of KirmsterPonturo spoke about the recent acquisition of Beat Electronics by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the profit of $30 million otbtained by Lebron James, the famed basketball star in that deal. The deal involved Apple acquiring the streaming music provider Beats Music and the makers of popular headphones, audio software and speakers Beats Electronics for a total consideration of $3 billion. As a part of the deal, the co-founders of Beats, Jimmy Iovine and Dr.Dre will join Apple.
Quoting ESPN, Bloomberg correspondent stated that James negotiated with Beats Electronics back in 2008, when the company was formed, wherein he agreed to promote the headphones of the company and in exchange took a small stake in the company. So, when Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) bought Beats Music and Beats Electronics, James made a whopping $30 million on his stake in Beats.
Ponturo just had two words of comment for James: ‘very smart.’ Actually yes. For simply wearing headphones of Beats Electronics, James seems to have made $11 million more than what he usually makes annually playing basketball. Perhaps James himself would have never imagined that he would have this windfall someday, when he negotiated his deal with Beats Electronics. It though however is true that James’ endorsement of Beats headsets did add significantly to the popularity of the product.
There have been questions raised on whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could reshape a company like Beats Electronics or is it that Apple has taken a big risk in this acquisition. Ponturo feels that, Beats now has the distribution infrastructure for Apple products. There seems to be some synergy here in that they can now have Apple stores and sell a combination of Apple and Beats products.
Valiant Capital, managed by Christopher R. Hansen has 17.01% of its equity portfolio in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and holds 258,431 shares of the company. Another hedge fund Jim Roumell‘s Roumell Asset Management holds 31,031 shares of Apple Inc., representing 16.74% of its equity portfolio.
Disclosure: None
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