Before Verzuz made its surprising announcement to join forces with video network app Triller, Apple attempted to make Swizz Beatz and Timbaland an offer to purchase the company.
According to a report from Bloomberg, people with knowledge of the deal — who asked not to be identified due to private discussions — shared that the tech giant initially put their bid in but their offer was much lower than what Triller ended up paying Verzuz.
Neither of the Verzuz co-founders or a spokesman from Apple has commented on this news as of yet.
Last July, a deal was made between Apple and Verzuz in which the spontaneous music platform was able to live-stream its events through Apple Music and Beats 1 simultaneously with its Instagram page. However, that streaming deal came to an end once Triller entered the picture.
REVOLT reports that while many people were shocked to hear that Verzuz had sold its platform — including “Power” actor Michael Rainey Jr. who accused the co-founders of being “sellouts” — the Triller deal turned out to be a very lucrative endeavor that benefited everyone involved, this includes all artists who made appearances on Verzuz.
Back in March, both Swizz Beatz and Timbaland responded to these claims beneath the comment section of a Hollywood Unlocked post saying, “But we own Triller,” Swizz wrote with a laughing emoji. “We own everything. Tell who done that,” Timbaland added.
As previously reported by AfroTech, terms of the deal included directing a portion of both co-founders’ equity stake to the 43 artists plus who have made appearances on the platform as of March 9.
Since the deal, Verzuz has opened up its platform to highlight iconic artists such as Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, The Isley Brothers, Earth, Wind & Fire, Method Man, Redman, Xscape, and SWV.
Next up, fans expect Verzuz to announce its next battle between rappers Soulja Boy and Bow Wow — both of which have been fueling their friendly feud with funny exchanges on social media.
