Beats Electronics: Second Big Buyout For HTC

A few days ago HTC become majority stakeholder in Beats Electronics and now owns 51% of the company.

After buying S3 not long ago, this is the second significant recent purchase by HTC and the fifth in all since the beginning of 2011!

Although the Dr Dre Beats headphones were manufactured and distributed by Monster Cables, Beats Electronics was an independent company, founded by the rapper/producer Dr Dre and the label boss Jimmy Loveline.

Loveline is continuing as head of the company following the buyout and the company's partnerships with Chrysler and with HP for the current range of Envy computers will continue and are unlikely to be threatened by the new ownership.

After investing in video, then, HTC is investing in sound. A line of Beats equipped smartphones is moreover planned. Let's hope that the Beats audio solutions don't go in the same direction as the Beats headphones and HP computers. Not to mention the fact that if the handsfree kits currently supplied with HTC smartphones disappear, we won't miss them!

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