From BeatlesWiki
Dick James, whose publishing company published the second Beatles single, suggests that The Beatles start up their own publishing company, so they could get royalties for radio play and cover versions.
John and
Paul had thought that they would own the whole company at first, but they only got forty-nine shares of the stock, with
Brian Epstein getting ten and Dick James getting the rest of it.
George Martin was offered stock, but he refused. In
1969, this bad deal would come back to haunt them, as Dick James sold all his stock without The Beatles' knowledge.
George Martin later said "His idea was very clever… because in offering as large a slice as 50 per cent he ensured that they would sign a contract for a long period of time. He wouldn’t have got a deal like that if he’d offered them a smaller share." Actually, the money was first paid into another company, Lenmac Enterprises, owned 40 per cent by
John, 40 per cent by
Paul, and 20 per cent by
NEMS Enterprises. After they had become popular in America, they would set up another company, Maclen music, fortheir overseas royalties. Even later on, they set up yet another company, Subafilms, to handle profits from their films. As a reward, Brian let Dick James keep the royalties for the
Please Please Me/
Ask Me Why single, initially released under Dick James Music.
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