Apple Transitioning Select Employees and Technology Resources from Beats [u]

The Apple–Beats merger received the green light from the EU commission, and the same is expected from US authorities. Since the deal is projected to close by the end of September, Apple has started selecting talent from Beats Electronics: Some will be lucky enough to be offered a position at Apple, while others will have to face the harsh reality that they won’t be part of the transition.

According to sources speaking to 9to5Mac, Apple execs have visited Beats’ Southern California headquarters a couple of times now, and what seems to be certain is that Beats hardware employees will be part of Phil Schiller’s team in Cupertino, while select engineers from the Beats Music streaming service will continue their work from Southern California.

Apparently, the Beats Music technology is “not easily compatible with Apple’s existing servers,” so the technology Apple acquired will need to be “re-architected” sometime in the future.

Also, we’ve seen Dr. Dre appear at the WWDC keynote and Jimmy Iovine appear with Eddy Cue on stage at the first Re/code conference, so their positions are cemented at Apple, but sources couldn’t tell if Trent Reznor, Beats’ CEO, and Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers will have a position at Apple or not.

Update: In a statement sent to Re/code Apple confirmed that some Beats employees have received only temporary offers from the company as part of the transition.

People familiar with the two companies say that about 200 of Beats’ 700 workers were told last week their positions are temporary and will be eliminated within the next few months.

Apple and Beats officials aren’t describing the move as layoffs, but as “transitional” job offers at Apple.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr’s explanation: “We’re excited to have the Beats team join Apple, and we have extended job offers to every Beats employee. 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.”