music publishing llc type limited liability company industry music publishing founded 1955 ; 61 years ago 1955 founder lew grade baron grade headquarters 550 madison avenue new york city new york u.s. key people martin bandier chairman and ceo rick krim co president services music publishing owner sony corporation website www.sonyatv.com sony atv music publishing llc is an american music publishing company owned by sony through its u.s. subsidiary sony corporation of america . 1 the company was originally founded as a division of associated television atv in 1955 by lew grade . in 1985 michael jackson acquired atv music publishing for 47.5 million . paul mccartney who had told jackson about the importance of owning publishing admitted he felt somewhat undercut by the purchase because atv music publishing owned the publishing rights to most of the beatles songs although he did not enter the bidding when it came up for sale in 1984 . 2 3 4 in december 1995 michael jackson agreed to merge atv music publishing with sony music publishing a division of sony corporation to form sony atv music publishing . in 2012 an investor consortium led by sony atv music publishing acquired emi music publishing for approximately 2.2 billion . 5 sony atv music publishing and emi music publishing now operate as one company with the former entity administering the catalog of the latter under a complex business structure . following the acquisition the company became the largest music publisher in the world with a library of over 2 million songs under its administration . on march 14 2016 sony announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the jackson estate s stake in the company . 6 the deal was completed on september 30 2016 . 1 7 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 early history 1.3 acquisition 1.4 merger with sony 1.5 death of michael jackson takeover of emi publishing 1.6 sale of jackson stake 2 value 3 see also 4 notes 5 references 6 external links history edit founding edit sony atv was originally founded as a subsidiary of the uk s associated television atv . atv operated a commercial television company broadcasting from 1955 in london until 1968 and the english midlands as part of the independent television itv network . business tycoon louis benjamin was involved with lew grade as part of one of the four major record companies in the uk at the time . the company was pye records which along with emi philips and the british decca records accounted for the vast majority of music records sold in the uk . 8 in 1959 atv acquired 50 % of pye records . 9 between them grade and benjamin held most of the shares . 8 atv music publishing was created to exploit the catalogue of songs written by artists on the pye record label and for the themes to itc and atv television programmes . the uk rights to some of the rock n roll music from the us were also bought by atv . 8 grade established atv s headquarters alongside those of pye records ; off edgware road beside the marble arch in central london . 10 early history edit john lennon and paul mccartney failed to purchase atv music publishing in the late 1960s the 1950s 1960s was a good period for grade and his brothers bernard delfont and leslie grade and their companies . pye records had major artists of the period under contract . the searchers the kinks donovan mungo jerry and petula clark were some of the artists that recorded for pye records . pye also had contracts with several us companies allowing them to manufacture and distribute records in the uk . chess records was among those and counted chuck berry as one of its top artists . 10 atv music acquired the rights to the lennon mccartney song catalog northern songs in 1968 . 11 the catalog featured almost every song written by john lennon and paul mccartney until the beatles legal split in 1971 . northern songs had been co owned and administered by brian epstein and dick james . following epstein s death in 1967 james put the company up for sale . lennon and mccartney upset that the songs they had written were not theirs legally attempted to gain ownership of the publishing rights . 11 their bid to gain control part of a long and acrimonious fight failed . the financial clout of grade their adversary in the bidding war ensured that the music written by the two beatles passed into the control of atv . 11 atv music publishing remained a successful organization in the music industry throughout the 1970s . len beadle the company s chief executive signed up many songwriters and bought numerous song catalogs . the catalog acquisitions along with the continuing royalties from lennon and mccartney ensured that large amounts of money were frequently coming in for atv music publishing . despite the success of the music publishing organization other ventures formed by grade were not performing as well . pye records which continued to distribute music from artists such as carl douglas and barry white was failing to bring in large amounts of money . 12 the main television arm of atv lost its government granted license in its then current form and was restructured into central independent television . acquisition edit michael jackson acquired atv music publishing in 1985 and merged it with sony a decade later . by the mid 1980s atv music publishing and pye records were both up for sale . the companies were bought relatively cheaply by australian businessman robert holmes court who acquired associated communications corporation the parent company in 1982 13 asset stripped the subsidiaries and sacked many long serving employees before selling the companies on again . 14 15 16 during this time american singer michael jackson was recording say say say for paul mccartney s pipes of peace album . jackson stayed at the home of mccartney and his wife linda during the recording sessions becoming friendly with both . one evening whilst at the dining table mccartney brought out a thick bound notebook displaying all the songs to which he owned the publishing rights . jackson grew more excited as he examined the pages . he inquired about how to buy songs and what the songs were used for . 4 mccartney explained that music publishing was a way to make big money . jackson replied by telling mccartney that he would buy the beatles songs one day . mccartney laughed saying great . good joke . 17 jackson was first informed that the atv catalog was up for sale in sept. 1984 by his attorney john branca who had put together jackson s earlier catalog acquisitions . warned of the competition he would face in buying such popular songs jackson remained resolute in his decision to purchase them . 2 4 branca approached mccartney s attorney to query whether the beatle was planning to bid . the attorney stated he wasn t ; it was too pricey . 2 3 according to bert reuter who negotiated the sale of atv music for holmes court we had given paul mccartney first right of refusal but paul didn t want it at that time . 18 lennon s widow yoko ono had been contacted as well but also did not enter bidding . 3 mccartney had previously attempted to purchase the catalog alongside ono in 1981 . 2 he was offered the catalog for 20 million 40 million usd and proposed the pair would each pay 10 million . 3 19 ono refused as she thought it was too high a price . mccartney spoke about the offer at a press conference in april 1990 explaining that ono actually said i think we can get it for 5 . so i said well ok you know let s see what we can do . and we couldn t. 19 not wanting to buy the songs himself and potentially be seen as being grabby for owning john lennon s bit of the songs mccartney let the offer fall through . 3 19 the competitors in the 1984 sale of atv music included charles koppelman and marty bandier s new york based the entertainment co. virgin records new york real estate tycoon samuel j. lefrak and financier charles knapp . on november 20 1984 jackson sent a bid of 46 million to holmes court . branca suggested the amount of the bid after having spent time evaluating the earnings of the catalog and learning of another bid for 39 million . jackson was only interested in the music copyrights but the package also included buildings a recording studio some studio equipment and life insurance policies on beatles members presumably lennon s was collected in 1980 . the two sides signed a non binding memorandum of mutual interest in dec. 1984 and jackson s team began a four month process of verifying atv music s legal documents financial reports and every significant composition in the nearly 4000 song catalog . 4 the two sides began drafting contracts in jan. 1985 and follow through meetings began on mar. 16 . jackson s team described the negotiations as frustrating with frequent shifts of position by the other side . one holmes court rep described the negotiations as a game of poker . jackson s team thought they had reached a deal several times but new bidders would enter the picture or they would encounter new areas of debate . the prospective deal went through eight drafts . in may 1985 jackson s team walked away from negotiations after having spent hundreds of hours and over 1 million . in june 1985 they learned koppelman bandier had made a tentative agreement with holmes court to buy the catalog for 50 million . 4 but in early aug. holmes court contacted jackson and talks resumed . jackson only raised his bid to 47.5 million but he had the advantage of being able to close the deal faster having completed due diligence of atv music prior to any formal agreement . 4 he also agreed to visit australia as a guest of holmes court and appear on the channel seven perth telethon . 4 18 holmes court included some more assets and agreed to establish a scholarship in jackson s name at a u.s. university . 4 branca closed the deal and purchased atv music on jackson s behalf for 47.5 million on aug. 10 . 1985 . 2 4 in oct. 1985 jackson fulfilled his contract provision to visit perth western australia and appear on the telethon where he spoke briefly and met with two children . 4 18 in an analysis of the acquisition the los angeles times noted that if yesterday were to earn 100 000 a year in royalties the lennon estate and mccartney would divide 50 % of the income ; 25 000 each . the publisher jackson would receive the other 50 % ; 50 000 . it was mentioned that yesterday probably earns more than 100 000 a year . the publisher would also control the use of the song in films commercials and stage productions . 2 4 jackson went on to use the beatles songs in numerous commercials feeling that it would enable a new generation of fans to enjoy the music . mccartney who had himself used the buddy holly song catalogue in commercials felt saddened . 2 privately jackson was reported to have expressed exasperation at mccartney s attitude ; he felt that the musician should have paid for the songs he had written . 2 at the time mccartney was one of the richest entertainers in the world with a net worth of 560 million and a royalty income of 41 million . 2 jackson stated if he didn t want to invest 47.5 million