Yeah, I knew McLaren Automotive wasn't driving profit at the moment (and cars are capital intensive), but to think such a brand with all of the resources that they have is worth half a Beats does shock me a little bit.

Considering the amount of cash they have (and be interesting to see which locale they'd take it from), would say it's almost a no-brainer to acquire a foothold in the market with such prestige, awesome tech and talent. Plus, their respective histories with regard to secrecy and alignment of brands would make sense.

Is half a Beats just one Beat?

One Upbeat.

It's not necessarily cheap for a small, bespoke company that loses money, but this would be money that Apple could find in its Irish subsidiary's couch cushions and they bring a lot of engineering expertise that could be applied outside of automotives especially with aluminum and carbon fiber.

If I'm Apple then maybe I do it just because Jony Ive would think it was cool? haha

McLaren Technology group (the main parent) and McLaren Automotive are making a profit though. Yes they aren't doing all that well but still actually making money. Though hard to say what kind of a black hole the racing side (Formula 1) is at the moment for the company with the rather terrible results in the last few years.

Valuation with this type of company would be based on the traditional 3-4x revenue - in which case it's right on the money.

If they announced that they would accept payment in Bitcoin for their cars, or installed a dashboard camera with a social media sharing button, their valuation would instantly triple.