They say more money, more problems. Tell this to Dr. Dre and his partner Jimmy Iovine over their company Beats By Dre and their iconic head phones that swept the world. They will both agree.
Before the dynamic duo sold their company to Apple last year for a reported $3 billion dollars, they had a plethora of partners, consultants and people that helped to bring the noise cancelling, sound amplifying headphones to the market. One of those companies was Monster, ran by CEO Noel Lee.
Lee contents his company, Monster, was cut out of process of making the headphones, had their ownership percentage shrank, and lost millions of dollars in the process. Not to mention, they missed out on the deal with Apple to buy the company and everyone’s shares.
Monster started with Dre and Iovine back in 2008 when the company started. Everything hit the fan, according to the law suit, when Beats by Dre worked out a deal with HTC and their sound technology for the product line. However, Monster says they were kept in the dark about inner workings of the deal and when it was all said and done, their ownership percentage in Beats by Dre was reduced from 5% to 1.25%.
Monster started with Dre and Iovine back in 2008 when the company started. Everything hit the fan, according to the law suit, when Beats by Dre worked out a deal with HTC and their sound technology for the product line. However, Monster says they were kept in the dark about inner workings of the deal and when it was all said and done, their ownership percentage in Beats by Dre was reduced from 5% to 1.25%.
Lee said they had no choice but to sell the small percentage for a reported $5.5 million dollars.
The legal case says the HTC deal was “fraudulent” and “a sham” put together to swindle investors out of their ownership interest of Beats to Dre and Iovine.
Monster’s 1.25% ownership stake would have been worth more than $30 million at the time of the Apple deal. Their original 5% stake would have been worth around $150 million.
There has been no official response from Dr. Dre, Iovine or Apple at this time, but we are sure much more will unfold around this case.
0 Comments