Beatles songs owned by Michael Jackson will remain the property of the company that currently holds them, according to a report.

The rights to more than 200 songs penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and others are held by the company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which Jackson had a 50 per cent stake.

A UK paper reported in January that Jackson planned to will the rights to the Lennon and McCartney catalogue to McCartney, to heal a rift between the two.

But Paul McCartney paid tribute to the pop great. On his website, McCartney said: “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.”

Sony/ATV owns rights to songs by Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and others, with Jackson’s stake valued at about US$1 billion, according to Ivan Thornton, a private wealth adviser who worked with Jackson and his family.

Jackson reportedly paid US$47.5 million for the ATV stake in 1985, outbidding Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and McCartney for it. He later allowed Sony the option to buy half in order to refinance US$300 million in loans.

Martin Bandier, chief executive officer of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, said, “For him, this was really honing his business skills in an area that he loved.”