In what would be a surprise departure, Billboard claims unnamed sources have informed them Jimmy Iovine, is ready to depart Apple Music, as soon as August.
Sources inform the publication “his departure is timed to his Apple shares fully vesting,” corroborating an earlier report from site Hits Daily Double, whose only sentence on the rumour is “When Iovine steps down in August, who will become the new face of Apple Music?”
Iovine is the former CEO of Interscope, who joined Apple in 2014 with Dr. Dre, after the duo sold Beats to the iPhone maker in a $3 billion deal. While he doesn’t exactly have a specific title at Apple, Iovine is a connection to the music industry for Apple Music.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the following after the acquisition of Beats in 2014: “What Beats brings to Apple are guys with very rare skills. People like this aren’t born every day. They’re very rare. They really get music deeply. So we get infusion in Apple of some great talent.”
Where will Iovine end up next, if he is indeed leaving Apple Music? Maybe he might head to Spotify, which today announced it had reached $70 million paying subscribers, more than double the numbers of Apple Music, which is at around 30 million.
