In a departure from its more modest acquisition history, Apple is said to be in talks to purchase Beats Electronics, LLC, a headphone and audio device maker and streaming music company for an estimated $3.2 billion.

The Beats Brand, which is headed up by rap superstar Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine, is made up of two components: Beats Electronics, which makes high-end headphones and the Beats streaming music distribution service.

Dre, who Forbes reportedly estimated to currently be worth $550 million, could walk away with up to $800 million for his stake in Beats, should the deal go through, according Cocoafab.com.

News of the negotiations between Apple and Beats first broke on Thursday with a report from the Financial Times. Bloomberg, the New York Times, Reuters and other media outlets have all independently verified the news as well.

The tentative deal, which insiders warn may well fall apart as various aspects are worked out, does have a strong chance of going through and if successful could be announced as early as next week.

Aside from the sheer size of the potential investment, this news is commandeering so much attention largely due to the fact that the $3.2 billion acquisition would be the largest purchase that Apple has ever made in its 38-year history, the Washington Times reports.

Apple has traditionally relied on itself and its own ideas and innovation to create its uber-popular and ever-profitable line of state-of-the-art products and services, like the iPod, iPhone, iTunes music store and more.

However, it's no secret that Apple hasn't launched any new breakthrough ideas for the always-evolving tech market since the passing of the company's legendary former CEO Steve Jobs, in October of 2011.

Tim Cook, who took over for Jobs, has been working toward maintaining the success of his predecessor but there have been few noteworthy and/or tangible results thus far.

Cook's approach to Apple's success has been to ease up on the company's historic frugal approach to industry-leading innovation and to reach into its very deep pockets to support itself through strategically acquiring companies with promising products or holdings. According to a report from the New York Times, Apple has acquired a total of 24 companies in the past 18 months alone.

"We are expanding Apple's products and services into new categories, and we are not going to underinvest in this business," Cook said in Apple's most recent earnings call.

By the looks of the Beats negotiations, Cook is making good on that promise. It's certainly not the celeb star power behind the brand that's driving the potential buy-out. Rather, for a start, it's a keenly business-savvy undertaking that is taking into consideration a recent trend by consumers toward streaming music and away from digital downloads.

According to market research in the area of music consumption, streaming subscription music services are now the biggest area of growth throughout the entire music industry.

Services including Spotify, Pandora and their competitors skyrocketed in 2013, according to music industry experts. The exact numbers differ slightly depending on whose research you're looking at, but the trend is obvious, regardless.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global music industry association, subscription service revenues increased by 50 percent to $1.1 billion in 2013. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that streaming music revenue in the United States last year climbed 39 percent to $1.4 billion.

The RIAA says that U.S. revenue from music downloads, the market in which Apple's iTunes is the top player, dropped 1 percent to $2.8 billion. And although music downloads still have a stronghold on the market, commanding 40 percent of it, streaming revenue is an up-and-coming contender. Steaming music currently accounts for 20 percent of the market, up from a mere 3 percent in 2007.

"[Apple] is buying into the future and the future is going to be streaming and subscription," Jon Irwin, former president of Rhapsody music service, told Bloomberg. "Revenue from streaming and subscription are growing. Files and downloads are shrinking. Everyone has to engage in streaming and subscription."

And it seems for Apple, a promising and profitable future would be made possible with the Beats acquisition.

With this deal, Apple would be buying into two different companies with overlapping management but different investors. Beats Music is the streaming music service and Beats Electronics is the manufacturer of audio products. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Beats leadership team would report directly to Cook.

Beats Music launched in January of this year. For approximately $10 a month, the service makes available to its subscribers millions of songs that can be streamed by users on various devices. It also boasts access to special playlists compiled by famous DJs and musicians that include Dre, Iovine and Nine Inch Nail's Trent Rezner, to name a few.

The audio device side of the Beats business, which launched in 2008, is lauded mainly for its coveted line of Beats By Dre headphones. The "bass-heavy" headsets are in high demand worldwide, even with hefty price tags that hover between $200 and $450.

Annual sales of the Beats products, which include speakers as well as other audio devices, are estimated in the $1.5 billion range. In 2013, The Carlyle Group reportedly invested over $500 million in Beats, valuing the company at over $1 billion.

The New York Times maintains that Beats Electronics, along with its trendy headphones, is said to have accounted for most of Apple's $3.2 billion proposed purchase price.

"[The purchase of Beats] would have to fit into a much longer, more innovative strategy around perhaps the hardware and the service," Ben Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies told the New York Times.

Representatives for both Apple and Beats refused comment on the pending deal.

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