Beats founder Jimmy Iovine will retire from running the Beats division at Apple this summer. Iovine is the division’s best-known public figure, which primarily sells headphones.
Iovine will instead advise Eddy Cue and spend more time with his family, The Wall Street Journal claims in an article that can be read in its entirety via an archive site. That will happen from August, when Iovine is no longer tied to a certain amount of Apple shares. The timing of the job change is related to acquiring the shares. It often happens that in a takeover, top people receive a bonus or shares after a few years, if they are still working for the company.
The CEO would have struggled to adapt to Apple’s corporate culture, the business newspaper claims based on anonymous sources. Robert Kondrk and Jeff Robbin, who already run Beats with Iovine, will take over from Iovine. The division is ultimately led by Apple CEO Eddy Cue.
Apple and Iovine have yet to comment on the business paper’s story. Iovine denied a rumor in January that he was leaving the company.