COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Michael Jackson Joins Sony in Publishing Venture: The pop star and Sony Music combined to create Sony/ATV Music, the third-largest music publishing entity in the world. Under the joint venture, Sony will pay Jackson an estimated $100 million for 50% ownership of his ATV Music catalogue, which includes most of the valuable Beatles’ classic songs. Jackson will become co-owner of Sony’s Tree Music catalogue, which includes country hits by Willie Nelson and Roger Miller. The ATV catalogue will continue to be administered worldwide through 1998 by Thorn EMI’s music publishing division. A Jackson spokesman denied Newsweek magazine’s report that Jackson is running out of money. Jackson, said to be worth an estimated $400 million, began negotiating the publishing deal with Sony about eight months ago.