Wild hypothesis. Amazon started as a book distributor. Now it is fighting to become a publisher. iTunes + iPod started as a music distributor. What if it now has ambitions as a label? How would one build that out of Cupertino?
One would start with a fringe, fragmented genre, to serve as a beachhead. Fragmented by not flat - there should be a node near the top of a hierarchy which can be acquired and leveraged.
$1.3 billion in 2013 headphone sales justifies a $3 billion valuation neatly by itself. But this acquisition certainly comes with interesting optionality.
One would start with a fringe, fragmented genre, to serve as a beachhead. Fragmented by not flat - there should be a node near the top of a hierarchy which can be acquired and leveraged.
$1.3 billion in 2013 headphone sales justifies a $3 billion valuation neatly by itself. But this acquisition certainly comes with interesting optionality.