Yesterday, Let it be, yellow submarine: there are also the songs of Beatles in the music catalog of Michael Jackson that the Sony bought for 750 million dollars.
Seven years after the death of the King of Pop, the Japanese giant won full control of Sony/Atv Music Publishing (which controls the rights to over three million songs), taking over the 50% share still held by the heirs of the singer. The final agreement should be signed by March 31st.
Jackson had bought ATV Music in 1985, buying the rights to the Beatles for $41,5 million after a final battle with Paul McCartney. Ten years later, in 1995, he shared ownership of the company with Sony: half of the capital went to the Japanese, while the other half remained under the control of Jackson himself until 2009, to then pass to his heirs through the Jackson Estate.
The deal now allows Jackson's heirs to cancel all of their $250 million old debts and proceed to diversify their assets out of the music industry. “This is it”, Michael would say: this is it.
