For years, the race to become hip-hop’s first billionaire mogul has always been led by front-runners Diddy and Jay Z. But recently Dr. Dre has been steadily ascending the ranks, and according to a new report, he’s poised to hit the billion-dollar mark sooner than anyone thought with a deal to sell his Beats by Dr. Dre line to Apple.
According to Financial Times, via Forbes, Apple is in talks with Dr. Dre and his business partner, record executive Jimmy Iovine, to buy their Beats brand of electronics for $3.2 billion, the biggest purchase Apple has ever made.
Since Dre and Iovine started the brand back in 2008, Beats has expanded from just headphones to car audio systems, speakers, and even a streaming service, and Forbes has reported that the Beats brand is worth $2 billion.
Dre’s current stake in Beats stands at about 20-25 percent, and if he sells the brand for nearly double its current valuation, after dealing with taxes, his net worth stands to jump from $550 million to $800 million, which would make him the richest man in hip-hop.
The Beats deal with Apple is still not yet concrete, but if it does go through, Dre will certainly have beat out hip-hop’s other cash kings by a large margin. Check out the other richest people in hip-hop after the cut. –nicholas robinson
