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Celebrity Sightings in New York City - June 14, 2016

For all those who laughed about TIDAL, looks like Jay Z might finally have the last one. According to new reports, the music mogul’s streaming service, which had a struggling start when it launched last year, is in talks for a buy out by Apple.

That’s right, if the deal goes through, Jay could pocket Dr. Dre dollars.

But, that’s still a big “if,” as the talks are still “exploratory” and in no way a done deal. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The talks are ongoing and may not result in a deal, these people said. Apple is exploring the idea of bringing on Tidal to bolster its Apple Music service because of Tidal’s strong ties to popular artists such as Kanye West and Madonna.”

Still, this is a major coup for hip hop’s original businessman (or, rather, “business, man”). TIDAL was considered Hov’s first major misstep, and he admirably worked through public confusion, a saturated marketplace and management shakeups to turn the company around into a genuine destination for exclusive content with, according to TIDAL, 4.2 million paid subscribers.

The Journal reports, “Jay Z bought the service in March 2015 for $56 million from Swedish company Aspiro. He launched the service under the brand Tidal a month later. He has given 19 famous artists and bands small stakes in TIDAL and promised each millions of dollars worth of marketing, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The terms of the deal are still unknown, but Apple isn’t known to skimp when it really wants something.

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal | PHOTO: Getty

This Is Not a Drill: Jay Z Might Be On the Verge of Something Huge  was originally published on globalgrind.com