It is my understanding that Micheal Jackson once owned the Beatles catalog and the Beatles sold their catalog to get lower taxed capital gains income.
“19 for me, 1 for you, I’m the taxman....”
Here’s the way I heard it. Michael Jackson bought the Beatles’ song catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million.
It made Jackson one of the most powerful music publishers in the world, but also strained his relationship with Paul McCartney. Jackson bought the catalog from ATV Music, which was owned by Australian billionaire Robert Holmes a Court.
Jackson later sold 50% of ATV to Sony for $95 million, creating Sony/ATV. In 2006, Jackson sold another 25% of his shares to Sony.
The purchase caused a rift between Jackson and McCartney, who was a close friend at the time. McCartney called the purchase “dodgy” and said that Jackson “commercialized” the Beatles’ music.
In 2017 McCartney filed a lawsuit against Sony/ATV to regain his ownership stake in the Beatles publishing catalog. Paul McCartney settled with Sony/ATV over Beatles music rights but it was confidential.
McCartney had sued for a declaration so that he could reclaim more than 260 copyrights, including for songs credited to him and John Lennon such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude.”