EMI Publishing sold to Sony for $2.2 billion

Sony has paid $2.2 billion for a 50% share of EMI Publishing.

EMI owner Citigroup announced on Friday that it had sold its share of the company to Sony. This makes Sony Publishing the biggest publishing company in the world with rights to songs from The Beatles, Motown and Jay-Z.

This gives Sony the copyright to over 2 million songs.

The estate of Michael Jackson, various investment funds and Mudadala Development Co from the UAE owns the other 50% of the company.

Citigroup is in the process of selling the recorded music division of EMI to Vivendi's Universal Music for $1.9 billion. That sale needs to be approved by European and U.S. regulators.

Universal, already the biggest record company on the planet would be made even stronger when it adds the EMI catalogue, including the works of The Beatles and Pink Floyd to its assets.