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Beat it: Apple cuts 200 jobs at Beats

Apple buys Beats

Apple looking to save money after splashing out $3bn on bass-heavy Beats headphones

Apple hasn’t hung around after its record-breaking $3bn purchase of headphone company Beats,  with around 200 employees set to lose their jobs. Beats employees in finance, human resources and over overlapping roles will be given the boot.

The company, which currently employs around 700 people, is going through the process of moving to Apple but some people won’t be getting a desk. Apple said that it would try to find jobs for as many Beats employees as possible.

“Because of some overlap in our operations, some offers are for a limited period and we’ll work hard during this time to find as many of these Beats employees as we can another permanent job within Apple,” the company said in a statement issued to 9to5mac.

Sources claim that Apple notified some staff that they would be making the move but told others that they were not included in the transition. Beats staff in creative and development roles will be moved to Apple, but people in ‘overlapping’ roles that already exist within Apple may not. 

According to 9to5mac some Beats employees not being offered new roles at Apple have already been laid off, with a few offered new roles within the company until January 2015. Apple has reportedly set up a dedicated hotline for Beats employees to speak to Apple’s human resources team about severance packages.

Apple is also working to integrate Beats Music technology into iTunes but is having issues getting the two systems to link up. Beats Music, a streaming services that sits alongside the better-known headphone brand, is seen by many as a key reason behind Apple’s big-money purchase.

Top brass at Beats have already commited to working with Apple in some capacity, with both Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre already on board. Trent Reznor and Ian Rogers are also said to be joining Apple.

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