Quote from: "truthprevails"lilith:
You said: "I'm wondering about Michael's relation with Sony all the time. I don't think they are fighting. I would not be surprised if we would find out that Michael IS Sony in the end. Isn't it the case that Michael owns half of the music rights owned by Sony? Isn't it the story (at least one story) that Michael gave half of his ATV to Sony and in return got the half of Sony? And since then we speak Sony-ATV ... am I loosing it completely?"
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Michael does NOT own half of Sony, and didn't get anything (other than MONEY) for ceding 50% of the ATV catalog to Sony. Here's some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony/ATV_Music_Publishing
http://www.sony.com/SCA/outline/atv.shtml
http://investing.businessweek.com/resea ... Id=2527214
Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC operates as a music publishing company. The company owns or administers copyrights and catalogs by artists. It holds rights on songs, including compositions recorded by The Beatles. The company licenses its songs for use in movies, television, and advertising; and collects royalties for its songwriters. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Los Angeles, California. As of November 8, 1995, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC operates as a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), which in turn is a subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo.
http://www.sonymusic.com/
http://www.sony.com/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Music_Entertainment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corpo ... of_America
Here's the official history of Sony Corp:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateI ... story.html
Organizational chart of Sony Group:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateI ... ation.html
Senior Management of Sony/ATV:
Martin Bandier, Chairman & CEO, Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Jody Gerson, Co-President, Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Los Angeles)
Danny Strick, Co-President, Sony/ATV Music Publishing (New York)
Peter Brodsky, Executive Vice President for Business & Legal Affairs, Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Warner Music Group is a competitor of Sony Music Entertainment.
Anyhow, my point is that the ATV catalog is just a part of Sony Music Entertainment (SME), and "Sony" is a behemoth umbrella organization which comprises many companies. To say MJ owns half of Sony sounds naive to me. I guess we usually mean SME or SCA when referring to "Sony"... But even then there's no indication of MJ owning much of it.
Okay you are surely right. I was referring to the musical rights. Of course Sony is more than musical rights. I was over exaggerating. Sorry for that.