Beats Electronics has secured a $500 million investment from the Carlyle Group and bought out the 25 percent stake in itself from HTC for $265 million, The New York Times reports.
An August report from The Wall Street Journal claimed Beats is looking for an investor, as well as a way out from its partnership with HTC.
While the exact details of the deal with Carlyle have not been disclosed, NYT's sources claim Carlyle values Beats at more than $1 billion. The asset management firm will also take two (out of six) seats in Beats' board.
Beats Electronics has grown by leaps and bounds since its initial partnership with HTC. In 2011, the Korean smartphone maker bought a 51% stake in Beats for $309 million, but sold half of it back to Beats in 2012. By June 2013, according to NPD's stats, Beats captured 59 percent of the U.S. premium headphones market, while HTC struggled financially throughout most of 2012 and 2013.
By ending the partnership with HTC, Beats will likely no longer be featured on HTC's devices. However, the financial injection from Carlyle will help it spread into new markets.
'We are confident that Beats will continue to drive innovation and growth in the premium audio accessory market, particularly as the proliferation of smart phones and tablets stimulate increased consumption of digital media,' said Sandra Horbach, Carlyle's head of consumer and retail, in a statement.
Image: Beats Electronics
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