Apple Music's Jimmy Iovine Reportedly Leaving Company In August
When Apple made it's $3 billion purchase of headphone maker Beats in 2014, its founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined the company as executives, overseeing the Apple Music and Beats 1 audio services. Now it's being reported that Iovine is planning to depart the company in August of this year, the same time that his shares in Apple will fully vest.
Apple has yet to comment on the news, which was first reported by Billboard and subsequently corroborated by sources to Bloomberg. After joining Apple, Iovine worked alongside Eddy Cue, the executive in charge of iTunes, Apple Music, and other services, although it's been said that their views sometimes clashed.
It's unclear exactly why Iovine plans to leave Apple or what he'll do next, although in a recent interview with Billboard he commented on his dissatisfaction with the streaming music industry and a desire to do more. "I'm 64 years old. I have no idea [what I'm doing next]. There's just a problem here that needs some sort of solution, and I want to contribute to it," he said.
Iovine has long worked in the music industry, including as a record producer and co-founder of Interscope Records, and has ties to Apple even before the Beats acquisition. In 2003 he first pitched a streaming music service to Steve Jobs, and he was an early supporter of both the iPod and iTunes. While serving as head of Apple Music, the service has grown to over 30 million paid subscribers since its launch in 2015, an impressive growth rate for such a short period of time.