The Beatles are considered to be one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history. Their songs incorporated many different genres and embodied the ideal sof the social revolution of the 60s.

On this day, August 10th, in 1985, Michael Jackson bought ATV Music, which is the Beatle’s publishing company. The purchase included rights to all of the band’s songs. Jackson paid $47.5 million for the company.

Ten years later, after Jackson acquired the company, ATV merged with Sony. Now called Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the company has become one of the most important and dominant music groups in the industry. It owns rights to songs by Elvis Presley, Eminem, Bob Marley, and Willie Nelson as well.