released, and there were 2,900 versions by different artists. In September 1964, Harrison founded his own publishing company, Mornyork Ltd., changing the name to Harrisongs Ltd. in December. Following the expiration of his contract with Northern Songs in 1968, Harrison's songs were published by Harrisongs Ltd. Ringo Starr formed a publishing company for his songs, called Startling Music, in 1968. Sale to ATV After Epstein's death on 27 August 1967, Lennon and McCartney sought to renegotiate their publishing deal with James. In 1968 they invited James for a meeting at Apple Records; filming the encounter and acting brusquely towards him. As a result, already-cool relations between James and the individual Beatles became even cooler. In March 1969, James and Silver abruptly sold their shares in Northern Songs to Associated Television for £1,525,000, giving Lennon and McCartney no notice or the chance to buy them out. Lennon learned of the sale from a morning newspaper during his honeymoon with Yoko Ono, and immediately called McCartney. Lennon and McCartney were offered £2.3 million by ATV for their shares but turned down the offer. Lennon and McCartney then attempted to gain a controlling interest in the company but their bid, part of a long and acrimonious fight, ultimately failed. The financial power of Lew Grade, their adversary in the bidding war, ensured that the songs written by the two Beatles passed into the control of ATV. Allen Klein (the de facto manager of the Beatles in the wake of Epstein's death) then attempted to set up a deal for Apple Corps to buy ATV out, which was stopped by attorney John Eastman—Linda McCartney's brother, and son of McCartney's future business manager, Lee Eastman—who sent a letter to ATV informing them that Klein was not authorised to act on Apple's behalf. Although technically true, Klein was the de facto manager for Lennon, Harrison and Starr, and also had McCartney's verbal go-ahead for the deal. ATV backed out rather than risk being pulled into litigation. Next, a block of investors who owned a small, but crucial, percentage of shares were lobbied by both sides to either sell out or cooperate to take control of Northern Songs. Unfortunately, during negotiations, Lennon expressed his absolute disdain for businessmen, saying, "I'm sick to death of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City!", which immediately pushed any offended investors to ATV's