landmarks

1948 much of Warners film library sold to MGM

1957 Teleklew Productions (Welk) pays US$200,000 for Harry Von Tilzer music publishing

1958 BBC buys Hulton Picture Library

1957 United Artists buys Associated Artists Productions (pre-1948 Warner Bros catalogue inc 800 sound features, 200 silent features, 1400 shorts and 200 Monogram features) for US$27m

1959 buys RKO catalogue

1968 Booker-McConnell buys 51% of Agatha Christie Ltd

1968 Gramophon-Philips Group buys Chappell Music Publishing

1968 Booker-McConnell pays £85,000 for rights to 17 Georgette Heyer titles

1969 EMI buys Keith Prowse Music Publishing and Central Songs

1970 Welk acquires Jerome Kern song catalogue for US$3.2m

1972 EMI buys Affiliated Music Group publishing

1976 EMI buys Screen Gems and Colgems music publishing for US$23.5m

1981 Hans Peter Kraus acquires Bettmann Archive

1981 EMI buys Robert Mellin Music publishing

1984 Kraus acquires United Press International collection (United Press International, International News Photos, Acme Newspictures and Pacific & Atlantic photos)

1984 BBC buys photo libraries of Express and Evening Standard newspapers

1985 Michael Jackson pays US$40m for ATV

1985 EMI buys Sydney Bron Music publishing

1986 SBK Entertainment World, Inc. buys 250,000 titles owned by CBS Songs for US$125m

1986 EMI sells film library to Bond

1986 Polygram buys Dick James Music for US$20m

1986 Ted Turner buys MGM/UA film library from Kirk Kerkorian for US$1.3bn

1987 EMI buys Lawrence Wright music publishing

1987 Weintraub Entertainment Group buys Screen Entertainment film library (2,000 motion pictures and 900 episodes of 28 television series) from Cannon Group for US$84.8m

1987 Warner buys Chappell Music publishing from Polygram for US$275m

1987 London Daily Telegraph newspaper sells Telegraph Collection Library

1988 BBC sells Hulton to cable entrepreneur Brian Deutsch for £1.5m

1989 PolyGram buys A&M Records from Alpert & Moss for US$500m

1989 buys Dick vs James music publishing

1989 buys Cedarwood music publishing

1989 EMI Music buys 50% interest in Chrysalis Records

1989 Polygram buys catalogue of Welk Music (27,000 works originally held by 103 publishing houses) for US$25m

1989 Sony buys Tree International Publishing for US$30m

1989 EMI buys music publisher SBK Entertainment for US$295m, adding 250,000 titles to existing catalogue

1990 Republic Pictures buys Sugar Entertainment Inc for US$100m

1991 EMI buys Filmtrax music publishing for £61m

1992 buys Virgin Music Group for US$960m from Richard Branson and Fujisankei

1992 Polygram buys Kitty Music publishing

1992 Carolco sells tv rights to its library (150 films) to Spelling Entertainment for US$64m

1994 United Newspapers buys stock image library Visual Communications Group for £27m

1994 Warner/Chappell Music acquires CPP/Belwin, becoming world's largest music publisher and largest publisher of printed music

1994 Sony Music buys ATV Music publishing library from Michael Jackson for US$500m

1995 Getty Investment Holdings takes 80% stake in Tony Stone Images

1995 Samuel Goldwyn Company sell film and television library to Polygram Filmed Entertainment for US$62m

1995 PolyGram buys ITC film catalogue (10,000 hours of TV programming and 350 features) for US$156m

1996 Carlton buys 10% stake in Getty Communications (later Getty Images) image library for £17m

1996 EMI buys 50% of Jobete music publishing from Berry Gordy for US$132m

1996 Getty buys Hulton Deutsch Collection for £8.6m

1996 Kerkorian buys Polygram's film library for US$253m

1997 Getty buys Fabulous Footage for US$2.5m

1997 buys Energy Film Library for US$17.5m

1997 buys Hong Kong-based Profile Photo Library

1997 PolyGram buys Epic film catalogue (1,051 titles) for US$225m

1997 Carlton buys Rank Film Distributors and film library for £65m

1997 buys Rohauer Film Collection for £1m

1997 Durand buys Amphion and Eschig catalogues

1998 Kerkorian's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer agrees to acquire most of the movie library of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library (1,300 features) from Seagram for US$235m

1998 Getty buys Allsport for £29.4m

1998 Philips sells PolyGram to Seagram for US$10.4bn

1998 Getty buys Fototeca Stone

1998 buys Imageways

1998 buys Australian Image Library and Australian Sporting Pix

1998 Chorion plc buys rights to all of Agatha Christie's works for £10m

1999 Getty buys The Image Bank from Eastman Kodak for US$183m

1999 EMI buys Windswept Music catalogue for US$200m and Hit & Run publishing

1999 Carlton buys ITC film and television library for £93m

2000 United Business Media sells VCG to Getty for US$225m

2001 Bridgeman Art Library acquires Giraudon from Getty

2002 AOL Time Warner buys 50% of music publisher Deston Songs from edel music AG

2002 Sony/ATV pays US$157m for Acuff-Rose Music Publishing (inc 55,000 songs) from Gaylord Entertainment

2003 HgCapital private equity group buys Boosey & Hawkes for £75m

2003 Warner Music arm sold to investment consortium led by Edgar Bronfman for US$2.6bn

2004 Chorion acquires Mr Men from family of author Roger Hargreaves for £28m

2005 Chorion acquires 75% of rights in Raymond Chandler copyrights

2006 Warner Music agrees to buy Ryko Corporation for US$675m from private equity consortium

2006 Gaylord Entertainment and Rysher Entertainment sell film and TV libraries to Qualia Capital for US$100m

2006 Crown Media Holdings (Hallmark Channel) sells film library (over 600 television movies, mini-series and series) to RHI Enterprises for US$160m

2004 EMI pays US$80m to increase Jobete stake from 80% to 100%

2006 Entertainment Rights buys Classic Media (inc Lassie and The Lone Ranger) for £107m

2006 Muhammad Ali sells 80% of rights to his personality to licensing firm CKX for US$50m

2006 Viacom sells film library of DreamWorks SKG studio to investment group led by George Soros for US$900m

2007 Getty acquires The Michael Ochs Archives (music and entertainment imagery spanning 1940s to 1990s)

2007 EuropaCorp buys Roissy Films catalogue (500 titles) for US$40m

2007 Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquires Stoller & Leiber music catalogue for US$40m

2007 Lionsgate buys Mandate for US$56.3m

2007 Sony/ATV agrees to buy Viacom's Famous Music unit (rights to some 125,000 songs) for US$370m

2007 Chorion acquires The Copyrights Group Limited

2007 Gehrmans Musikförlag acquires orchestral, chamber and choir music catalogues of Warner/Chappell Music Scandinavia

2008 Getty announces agreement to be acquired by Hellman & Friedman for US$2.4bn

2008 Chorion acquires Dennis Wheatley copyrights

2008 Imagem Music acquires catalogues from Universal Music Group, inc Zomba UK, Rondor UK, 19 Music and much of the BBC catalogue

::