ATV held its controlling interest in Northern Songs until
1985, when
ATV Music went up for sale. Outbidding McCartney (who'd tried unsuccessfully to persuade
Yoko Ono to join him) was singer
Michael Jackson, whose recent friendship and collaboration with McCartney ended suddenly as a result. It turned out Ono had actually encouraged Jackson to buy the shares, telling the press after the sale, "I just feel like a friend has them." When asked how he felt about having Jackson as his "boss," as controller of the song catalogue, McCartney replied, "I think he needs to give me a raise." (None of the Beatles' royalty rates as composers had ever been increased, despite their continuing sales.) McCartney reportedly did ask Jackson for a royalty increase but was turned down, further cooling their relationship.
In
1995, Jackson merged his catalogue with
Sony Music's publishing, for a reported $95 million, establishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He later used his remaining half as collateral to finance additional debt. As of
2005, there is a chance that his remainder may go on sale. Harrison's estate has also begun legal action to recover a large amount of unpaid (or underpaid) songwriter's royalties. McCartney's
MPL Communications, meanwhile, has bought or secured publishing rights to several early Beatles songs not published by Northern Songs, including "
Love Me Do" and "
P.S. I Love You".
