Apple to announce $3 billion Beats acquisition this week

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Apple has remained mum on rumors that it’s looking to acquire Beats Electronics, but it appears it’s finally ready to break the silence. The New York Post reports tonight that the Cupertino firm is expected to announce the acquisition within the next few days.

Perhaps even more interesting is that the Post says Apple has managed to trim some $200 million off the price tag during the past two weeks of negotiation. According to the outlet’s sources, the company has reached a deal to buy Beats for an even $3 billion…

Here’s more from the Post:

Apple’s biggest deal in its history just got a little cheaper. The tech titan is expected to announce its acquisition of Beats Electronics this week — at the slightly reduced price of $3 billion, The Post has learned.

A report in the Financial Times earlier this month tipping the deal put the price at $3.2 billion. That may have been the case but negotiations between Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company co-founded by Dr. Dre were not helped by a leaked report that had Beats Music with just 111,000 subscribers to its streaming service in March. […]

“Apple hadn’t even begun its due diligence process when news of the number came out,” one source close to the talks said Tuesday.

To put that 111,000 subscriber figure into context, Spotify—one of the top players in the space Beats Music competes in—announced earlier this month that it had reached 10 million paid subscribers. It’s believed this led Apple’s lawyers to lower Beats’ valuation.

Still, $3 billion is a lot of money, and it sounds like Beats co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine are ok with it. The Post echoes previous reports that the two are expected to attend Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, which kicks off next Monday.

Stay tuned.