side. Under their publishing contract with Northern Songs, Lennon and McCartney were bound to continue their songwriting until 1973. Unable to gain control of Northern Songs, Lennon and McCartney sold their stock (Lennon's 644,000 shares and McCartney's 751,000) in October 1969, for £3.5 million. Starr chose to keep his shares (0.8%), but Harrison had already sold his shares (also 0.8%) in June 1968. Takeover of ACC In the late 1970s, the parent company of ATV Music, now known as Associated Communications Corporation (ACC) began experiencing financial difficulties. From 1978 to 1981, ACC's profits declined due to losses in its film division, and share prices dropped dramatically. In 1981, Grade entertained offers for Northern Songs, drawing interest from several bidders. McCartney, with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, offered £21 million but the offer was declined by Grade who decided not to sell Northern Songs separately after other suitors, including CBS Songs, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Communications, Paramount Pictures and the Entertainment Co. showed interest in buying ATV Music as a whole. Meanwhile, Australian businessman Robert Holmes à Court had been acquiring shares of ACC and launched a takeover bid in earnest in January 1982. Grade resigned as chairman and was replaced by Holmes à Court who successfully acquired a controlling interest in the company. After Holmes à Court assumed control of ACC, ATV Music was no longer for sale. During their collaboration on the song, "Say, Say, Say", McCartney informed Michael Jackson about the financial value of music publishing. According to McCartney, this was his response to Jackson asking him for business advice. McCartney showed Jackson a thick booklet displaying all the song and publishing rights he owned, from which he was then reportedly earning $40 million from songs written by others. Jackson became quite interested and inquired about the process of acquiring songs and how the songs were used. According to McCartney, Jackson said, "I'm going to get yours [Beatles' songs]", which McCartney thought was a joke, replying, "Ho ho, you, you're good". In 1982, Robert Holmes à Court acquired Associated Communications Corporation, the holding company of ATV Music and put ATV Music up for sale in 1984. The only song in the Northern Songs catalogue that was excluded from the sale was "Penny Lane", the rights to which were gifted to Holmes à Court's teenage daughter Catherine, as it was her favourite Beatles song. According to Bert Reuter, who negotiated