Paul McCartney Net Worth 2024: Inside the Billionaire Beatle’s Massive Wealth

When Paul McCartney’s net worth jumped to one billion pounds in 2024, he became the first billionaire musician in the United Kingdom.

The former Beatle Paul McCartney is worth around $1.27 billion.

Sir Paul McCartney is a world-famous English singer, musician, and songwriter who gained fame with the Beatles in the 60s. He’s considered one of the most successful performers and composers of all time, known for his wide tenor vocal range and ability to play a variety of instruments. The Beatles’ song Yesterday is still one of the most covered songs in history.

Even though his first band broke long ago, Paul McCartney’s career didn’t end with the Beatles. After the music group left the public scene, he continued earning a fortune through his solo career and with Wings, as well as through his businesses and other investments.

Keep reading to learn how Paul McCartney reached the status of a billionaire musician.

6 Fun Facts About Paul McCartney

1. Music Legend: McCartney is one of the most successful composers and performers of all time.
2. Vegetarian Advocate: He has been a vegetarian since the 1970s and promotes meat-free diets.
3. Iconic Songs: McCartney wrote or co-wrote more than 30 songs that topped the charts worldwide.
4. Lifetime Achievement: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice—once with The Beatles and once as a solo artist.
5. Creative Ventures: Besides music, McCartney has authored several children’s books and an autobiography.
6. Cultural Impact: McCartney’s influence on music and pop culture spans over six decades.

Paul McCartney’s Net Worth: Full Breakdown

Paul McCartney is considered the richest member of the Beatles; in the last couple of years, his net worth has increased by hundreds of millions. This recent increase in McCartney’s wealth has come from his back catalog, the final Beatles song Now and Then, as well as from Beyoncé’s Beatles cover on the album Cowboy Carter.

Beyoncé’s song is a reimagined version of McCartney’s Blackbird.

However, he has been accumulating millions gradually over the last few decades, starting with his incredible worldwide fame with the Beatles, followed by his solo career, other band collaborations, as well as his businesses and other projects.

McCartney has one of the most versatile careers among artists, so he has varied sources that contribute to his net worth. Based on our research, we’ve created a breakdown of his main assets and sources of income:

Paul McCartney: Early Life and Education

James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on June 18, 1942.

His father had the same name, so his parents used his middle name Paul to avoid mix-ups. James Paul McCartney never officially changed his name, but he has always been known by Paul anyway.

McCartney was born at Walton Hospital, where his mother Mary Patricia McCartney worked as a nurse practitioner. His father (also known as Jim) worked as a salesman for A. Hannay and Co., and later as a lathe turner at Napier. He also volunteered for the fire brigade at night and was a pianist and trumpet player.

As a musician, McCartney’s father led Jim Mac’s Jazz Band in the 1920s, encouraging his son to take piano lessons.

When Jim saw the potential in his son, he encouraged him to audition for the Liverpool Cathedral choir. He was 11 years old at the time, but the choir didn’t accept him, so he joined the one at St. Barnabas’ Church in Mossley Hill.

For his fourteen birthday, Paul McCartney got a nickel-plated trumpet from his father. However, he decided to trade it for a £15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar, since he was most interested in rock and roll and wanted to be able to sing and play at the same time.

McCartney’s first song was I Lost My Little Girl. One of his earliest tunes was the one that later became When I’m Sixty-Four, as well. The very first song he performed in public was Long Tall Sally, at the Butlin’s Filey camp talent competition.

Education

During the war, the McCartney family was rehoused in 1944 in a Knowsley flat, followed by their move to a council housing development in Speke two years later.

In Speke, McCartney studied at Stockton Wood Road Primary School, but in 1949, he transferred to Joseph Williams Junior School, where he graduated. In 1953, he was one of three students (out of 90 in total), who passed the 11-Plus exam. This meant that he could attend the Liverpool Institute instead of a local comprehensive school.

Relationships and Personal Life

Paul’s mother Mary earned well at her job as a midwife, so the family was able to move to Allerton, living at 20 Forthlin Road until 1964. In 1956, May passed away from an embolism as a complication of breast cancer surgery.

When he was going back home to his Speke house in 1954, McCartney met George Harrison, who quickly became his friend. In 1957, he met John Lennon at the St. Peter’s Church Hall fair in Woolton, when the latter performed with The Quarrymen. This acquaintance led to his first gig as the band’s rhythm guitarist. The rest is history.

Marriages

As for his relationships with women, Paul McCartney had several long-term relationships, his first one being with Dorothy Dot Rhone. After two-and-a-half years, in 1961, he broke up with Rhone.

Two years later, McCartney met the British actress Jane Asher, with whom he spent two years living in her parents’ home in Marylebone. The couple then moved to McCartney’s home in St. John’s Wood in March 1966. Inspired by this relationship, the famous artist wrote You Won’t See Me, I’m Looking Through You, and I Love Her, among other famous songs. The couple broke up after a five-year relationship, at a point where they were engaged to be married.

In 1967, McCartney met his first wife, Linda Eastman. Linda was a Beatles fan and a popular photographer for rock musicians.

“The night Linda and I met, I spotted her across a crowded club, and although I would normally have been nervous chatting her up, I realized I had to… Pushiness worked for me that night!” McCartney later said of this encounter.

Two years later, Paul McCartney married Linda.

After the Beatles disbanded, the couple collaborated musically, forming Wings in 1971. They had four children, including Linda’s daughter Heather, who was legally adopted by Paul, as well as Mary, Stella, and James.

The marriage lasted until Linda’s death from breast cancer in 1998. In 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills, with whom he has his fifth child, Beatrice Milly.

He and Mills divorced in 2008 and three years later, McCartney married Nancy Shevell.

McCartney’s divorce from Mills was very public and acrimonious, and it resulted in a $50 million settlement that the famous artist paid his now-former wife.

Paul McCartney Net Worth: From a Member of the Beatles to a Successful Solo Career

As we mentioned, Paul McCartney met John Lennon and his band back in 1957, which led him to join them soon afterward. Harrison joined the band as lead guitarist in 1958, followed by Stuart Sutcliffe on Bass two years later.

This marked the start of an incredible team that led every member of the Beatles to world fame.

The Beatles

By 1960, the band had tested several names, including:

• Beatles and the Silver Beetles
• Johnny and the Moondogs
• Beatles (which they adopted in August 1960)

In addition to selecting a name, the Beatles recruited drummer Pete Best to join the band. At this point, the band was complete – and ready to get started.

However, in 1961, Sutcliffe decided to leave the Beatles, so McCartney took on the role of bass player. At around the same time, they started recording professionally and were credited as the Beat Brothers, which garnered the attention of Brian Epstein. In 1962, Epstein became the band’s manager.

Pete Best didn’t remain in the band for long, either. When he left in August, the Beatles replaced him with Ringo Starr. This was when they had their first hit Love Me Do, which almost instantly became popular in the UK.

Early Hits and Albums

McCartney and Lennon worked together on several of the band’s early hits, including:

• Can’t Buy Me Love
• I Saw Her Standing There
• She Loves You

After an initial bout of success, the band became an unstoppable force in the country. By 1964, they had released four studio albums, including:

• Please Please Me
• With the Beatles
• A Hard Day’s Night
• Beatles for Sale

In 1964, they released six albums:

• Introducing… The Beatles
• Meet the Beatles
• The Beatles’ Second Album
• Something New
• A Hard Day’s Night
• Beatles ’65

At this point, most of their albums had reached number 1 on the UK charts, and so-called Beatlemania swept the entire world, propelling Paul, Ringo, John, and George to cult status.

The Birth of Yesterday

In 1965, the Beatles released Yesterday, one of their most popular songs and one of the most covered songs in modern musical history. They released the composition featuring a string quartet, their first recorded use of classical music elements with a single band member. The song was written by Paul McCartney and released on the album Help! in the UK. In the United States, it was issued as a single in September of the same year, and it reached number one on the US charts.

The hit appeared on the UK EP Yesterday in March of the following year. The Beatles also made its US album debut in June 1966, as part of Yesterday and Today.

Tensions Between Paul McCartney and John Lennon

At this point, Paul McCartney took on many roles in the band, including that of a songwriter, arranger, producer, instrumentalist, and de facto musical director. This led to tensions with John Lennon, which would continue to grow in the following years.

When the Beatles released their sixth studio album Rubber Soul, it was regarded as one of the highest points in the band’s work. However, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney claimed that they wrote the music for In My Life, which led to increasing contention within the band.

“The clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious… and as far as Paul was concerned, George Harrison could do no right — Paul was absolutely finicky,” shared Harry Bill in his book.

Even though tensions were high, the Beatles’ members kept it under control – at least for the time being. They became one of the most popular brands in the world, and they kept surprising their audience with more quality content in the years that followed.

Other Albums and Projects of the Beatles

In 1966, the Beatles released yet another album called Revolver. They also produced a short promotional film for their song Paperback Writer and another for Rain. The films aired on Top of the Pops and The Ed Sullivan Show in June of the same year.

The band’s final commercial concert happened at the end of their US tour in 1966. Paul McCartney then pressed his bandmates to start the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band project, widely considered to be rock’s first concept album.

McCartney’s original ideas didn’t end here. Inspired to demonstrate to fans that the band had matured musically, he invented the fictional band on the album’s title track. Starting in November of the same year, the Beatles had a more experimental attitude during their recording sessions. For instance, A Day in the Life required a forty-piece orchestra, as described in Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles by Geoff Emerick.

These experimental sessions led to the creation of Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane in 1967, with the LP following a few months later.

Taking Over Brian Epstein

Brian Epstein passed in 1967, creating a huge void in the Beatles, one that Paul McCartney stepped in to fill, becoming the de facto business manager of the Beatles.

In this role, Paul McCartney led the team to produce a film for television called Magical Mystery Tour. He largely directed the film, but it didn’t get critical acclaim. The film’s soundtrack, though, was a lot more successful.

In 1968, The Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine premiered but at this time, the relations within the band were deteriorating – and fast. This was the same year the band released one of their all-time favorite titles, Hey Jude.

The Band’s Formal Dissolution

When The Beatles’ members were recording their eponymous double record White Album, the tensions grew even further. When a camera crew filmed McCartney lecturing his bandmates a year later during the Let It Be sessions, this worsened even further.

In 1969, the band released their last recorded album Abbey Road. John Lennon privately left The Beatles in September of the same year, at a point when Paul McCartney was dealing with business disagreements with the remaining bandmates. In April 1970, he announced his own departure from the group, and in December, he filed a suit for the band’s formal dissolution.

In March 1971, the court appointed a receiver that would oversee the finances of Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company. On January 9, 1975, a UK court legally dissolved the Beatles’ partnership, but several lawsuits persisted until 1989, including those against their record company EMI.

Paul McCartney after The Beatles

McCartney’s solo career unofficially started in 1966 when he was still with the Beatles. He completed a film score for the UK production The Family Way, his first musical project independent of the Beatles. The soundtrack won him an Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental Theme but failed to chart.

When the Beatles were nearing their break up in 1969, Paul McCartney was depressed. He would later share that his wife helped him by encouraging him to continue recording, which is when he wrote Maybe I’m Amazed.

In 1970, he was ready for a new challenge. He continued his career in music, this time starting his official solo career by releasing McCartney, a US number 1 album. McCartney was a one-man album apart from some vocal contributions from his late wife Linda, with him providing instrumentation, compositions, and vocals.

A year later, McCartney collaborated with drummer Denny Seiwell and his late wife on a second album he titled Ram. His second album as a solo artist was a UK number one and the US top five, and it included the hit single Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.

Forming a New Group

In 1971, ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine was invited to join Paul McCartney and his wife. The three of them, as well as Seiwell, formed a new band called Wings. They would later add the guitarist Henry McCullough to the band.

In 1972, Wings’ first concert tour started with a debut performance at the University of Nottingham. They then traveled across the UK in a van, doing ten more gigs in an unannounced tour of universities.

Then, during the 25-show, seven-week-long Wings Over Europe Tour, the band Wings covered songs and solo material McCartney had created. The only song that the Beatles had previously recorded was the Little Richard cover Long Tall Sally.

In 1973, the band Wings had their first US number-one single titled My Love. This single was included in their second LP Red Rose Speedway, which peaked at number one in the US and was top five in the UK.

Paul McCartney also collaborated with the former Beatles producer Martin, to create Live and Let Die, the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name. The song reached number nine in the UK and number two in the US, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Growing Success with Wings

In 1973, Seiwell and McCullough decided to leave Wings. When this happened, the McCartneys and Laine recorded a new album titled Band on the Run, the first of seven platinum Wings LPs. This was McCartney’s first album to reach Billboard magazine’s charts on three separate occasions, and it remained on the UK charts for a total of 124 weeks.

A year later, Paul McCartney hired Jimmy McCulloch, a guitarist, and Geoff Britton, a drummer, to replace McCullough and Seiwell. However, Britton quit during their recording sessions in 1975 with Joe English talking over.

In 1975, Paul McCartney and his band Wings won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance for the song Band of the Run. Geoff Emerick won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording for the album, too.

After the success of Band on the Run, Wings followed with two other chart-topping albums:

• Venus and Mars in 1975
• Wings at the Speed of Sound in 1976

The band’s Wings Over the World Tour was the first time McCartney performed Beatles songs live with his Wings band, including Yesterday, Blackbird, I’ve Just Seen a Face, and more.

In 1978, the Wings’ London Town album spawned yet another US number-one single for Paul McCartney, With a Little Luck.

Wings had their final concert tour in 1979. They toured for twenty shows in the UK.

Paul McCartney’s Career between 1980 and 2000

In 1980, Paul McCartney released his second solo LP, the one he produced on his own, called McCartney II.

The LP peaked at number one in the UK and number three in the US. In it, he included the song Coming Up. The live version of this song was recorded in Glasgow a year before by Wings and was the group’s last number-one hit.

In 1981, McCartney decided that he needed a change from Wings, so in April of the same year, Wings discontinued after Laine quit.

At this point, he was ready to focus on his solo career. McCartney composed and created many hits since, as well as collaborated with major artists over the years.

Let’s take a look at some of his milestones since:

• Collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Ebony and Ivory (1982)
• Third studio album Tug of War
• Collaboration with Michael Jackson on The Girl is Mine (1982) and Say Say Say (1983)
• Fourth studio album Pipes of Peace (1983)
• Fifth studio album Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
• Sixth studio album Press to Play (1986)
• Collaboration with Eric Stewart on Press to Play (1986)
• Release of album Снова в СССР (1988)

In 1989, Paul McCartney decided to form a new band with his wife Linda, Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh, Paul Wickens, and Chris Whitten.

In September, they launched his first tour in over a decade, the Paul McCartney World Tour. This is when he performed for the largest paying stadium audience in history in 1990 with 184,000 attending his concert in Rio de Janeiro.

After his unforgettable performance in Rio de Janeiro, McCartney achieved the following milestones:

• Collaboration with Carl Davis on the Liverpool Oratorio performance, featuring opera singers with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (1991)
• Release of a live album titled Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) (1991)
• Collaboration with Youth of Killing Joke as The Fireman on the album Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993) and Rushes (1998)
• Release of album Paul is Live (1993)
• Release of rock album Flaming Pie (1997)
• Release of album Run Devil Run (1999)
• Collaboration with Youth and Super Furry Animals on the album Liverpool Sound Collage (2000)
• Release of studio album Driving Rain (2001)

In 2002, Paul McCartney joined yet another band, one that included Brian Ray, Rusty Anderson, Paul Wickens, and Abe Laboriel Jr. They embarked on the Driving World Tour in April and this resulted in their double live album Back in the US, released in 2003. This band continues to play together to this very day.

McCartney’s Career to Date

Achieving worldwide fame has allowed McCartney to perform on the stage, earning millions throughout the years, especially in the last two decades. In 2002, McCartney performed Freedom during the pre-game show for the Super Bowl. Three years later, he performed at the Live 8 event in Hyde Park, and in September of the same year, he released his rock album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.

Some other milestones for this period include:

• Release of album Memory Almost Full (2007)
• Release of album Electric Arguments (2008)
• Performed at two sold-out concerts in the Yankee Stadium (2011)
• Release of Kisses on the Bottom, a collection of standards (2012)
• Closed the Diamond Jubilee Concert of Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace
• Closed the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in London (2012) – earned one pound for his performance
• Release of studio album New (2013)
• Collaboration with Kanye West on Only One (2014)
• Collaboration with Rihanna on Four Five Seconds (2015)
• Release of album Egypt Station (2018)
• Release of album McCartney III (2020)
• Performed the Got Back tour between April 2022 and June 2022 in the US

Honors and Awards

To date, Paul McCartney has won 18 Grammy Awards. Thirty-two of his songs have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was first inducted in 1988 with the Beatles and once again in 1999 as a solo artist.

In 1979, McCartney was recognized as the “most honored composer and performer in music” by the Guinness Book of World Records. At this point, he had 60 gold discs and sales of over 100 million singles.

In October 1965, all members of the Beatles, including Paul McCartney, were appointed as Members of the British Empire (MBE) and received their medals from Queen Elizabeth II. John Lennon decided to return his MBE to protest the UK’s involvement in the Nigerian Civil War.
In 1995, Prince Charles presented McCartney with an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Music. Two years later, now Sir James Paul McCartney was knighted for his services to music.

In 2002, the English College of Arms honored Sir Paul McCartney by granting him a coat of arms.

To date, McCartney has had sales of 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. He has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Award, as well.

Paul McCartney Net Worth: How He Earned His Billion

It has been estimated that Paul McCartney earned $50-70 million in a single touring year. Let’s get into specifics to give you a better idea of what he’s been earning over the years.

• 2015 and 2016 tour: grossed $4 million per city, more than superstars like Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who toured in the same period
• 2002 tour: grossed $126 million
• 2010 tour: grossed $93 million
• 2014 tour: grossed $71 million from all the 20 countries included in his tour
• 2017 tour: grossed $54 million with his US and Brazil tour

In 2019, Paul McCartney earned $37 million, according to FoxBusiness. He also grossed over $100 million from solo shows during this period.

In addition to this, McCartney earns millions every year from royalties and licensing fees, not only from his own music but also through his publishing company MPL Communications. Today, MPL owns the copyright of songs from Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly, among other artists.

According to Billboard, the former Beatle has grossed $1 billion in ticket sales throughout his career, including his time with the groups and his solo career. He is currently the richest member of the Beatles, surpassing John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

When John Lennon died in 1980, his net worth was estimated at around $800-900 million.

As for Paul McCartney’s royalties on the festive tune Wonderful Christmastime, he makes between $400,000 and $600,000 a year.

Beatles’ Catalog Earnings

The Beatles’ catalog has changed hands many times throughout the years. In 1963, Brian Epstein, the band’s manager, arranged a deal with Northern Songs for the band’s catalog. At this point, John Lennon and Paul McCartney owned 20% of the songs, while Epstein’s cut remained private. In the deal, Northern Songs got the remaining part i.e. the bulk of the songs’ rights.

When Northern Songs went public in 1965, Lennon and McCartney owned 15% each, and Starr and Harrison owned less. In 1969, James sold his share of the business to ATV Music, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney later sold their remaining shares to the same company as well.

At this point, the Beatles had lost all control of their songs, though they still had some shares as songwriters.

In 1985, when ATV Music went up for sale, Michael Jackson bought it. At this time, the catalog had around 250 tracks in it, including songs Paul McCartney wrote, Beatles songs, and tracks by Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen, among others.

A decade later, Michael Jackson struggled financially, so he sold half of the music catalog to Sony. By 2016, following Jackson’s death, Sony had purchased the entire catalog, which was valued at around $1 billion at the time.

In 2017, Paul McCartney started the process of acquiring back the rights to his tunes and those of John Lennon.

The lawsuit ended with a settlement, but the details he paid for the rights remain undisclosed to the public. According to the private settlement, McCartney regained the rights to most of the Beatles’ songs, but not all of them.

Even though we don’t know how much he spent on the catalog, we have a pretty clear idea of how much it’s worth – over one billion dollars. Still, Paul McCartney reportedly has the rights to most of the songs, not all of them, so this probably adds less than $1 billion to his net worth.

Other Investments and Projects of Sir Paul McCartney

Music is just part of what makes up Paul McCartney’s net worth. The famous singer has earned a fortune through his MPL Communications company, his art, books, and more.

Art

Paul McCartney took up painting in 1983, inspired by Willem de Kooning’s work, which he watched in his Long Island studio. The first time he exhibited his work was in 1999, in Siegen, Germany at a 70-painting show that combined portraits of Lennon, David Bowie, and Andy Warhol.

A year later, he had his first UK exhibition, featuring 500 canvases in Bristol, at the Arnolfini Gallery. His art debuted in Liverpool in October of the same year. Paul McCartney shared:

I’ve been offered an exhibition of my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery… where John and I used to spend many a pleasant afternoon. So I’m really excited about it. I didn’t tell anybody I painted for 15 years but now I’m out of the closet

Authorship

In 2001, Paul McCartney expanded his career to include written work, as well. He published a volume of poems and lyrics to his songs titled Blackbird Singing. After the book was published, he gave readings in New York City and his hometown, Liverpool.

Other books he has published over the years include:

• 2005: High in the Clouds: an Urban Furty Tail, a children’s book
• 2019: Hey Grandude!, a children’s book
• 2021: Grandude’s Green Submarine, a sequel to the previous children’s book
• 2021: The Lyrics: 1956 to Present, based on a conversation he had with Paul Muldoon
• 2023: 1964: Eyes of the Storm, a collection of photos he took at Beatlemania’s height

McCartney’s Work as a Producer

Paul McCartney has done some producing, as well. In 1981, he asked Geoff Dunbar to direct Rupert and the Frog Song, a short animated film that he wrote and produced – and even voiced some of the characters. The song We All Stand Together for the film’s soundtrack reached number three in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1985, the famous singer and songwriter also produced and hosted a documentary titled The Real Buddy Holly Story. The documentary featured interviews with Phil and Don Everly, Keith Richards, and others.

In 1992, he once again worked with Dunbar on an animated film, which won the two BAFTA awards. In 2004, they worked together on the animated film Tropic Island Hum.

In 2022, Paul McCartney received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for producing the documentary The Beatles: Get Back.

Media and TV Appearances

In 1984, McCartney starred in the musical Give My Regards to Broad Street. This is a feature film he produced, wrote, and starred in, with Ringo Starr taking on another acting role.

In 1995, Paul McCartney made a guest appearance on The Simpsons, in the episode Lisa the Vegetarian. This same year, he also directed a short documentary about the Grateful Dead.

Businesses and Investments

Paul McCartney has been a highly successful businessman for decades now.

In 1968, the members of the Beatles replaced their earlier company Beatles Ltd. with Apple Corps Limited, a multimedia corporation with the chief division being Apple Records, launched in the same year.

“Our accountant came up and said ‘We got this amount of money. Do you want to give it to the government or do something with it?’ So we decided to play businessmen for a bit because we’ve got to run our own affairs now. So we’ve got this thing called ‘Apple’ which is going to be records, films, and electronics – which all tie up,” shared John Lennon about the founding of Apple.

Other divisions of the business include:

• Apple Electronics
• Apple Films
• Apple Retail
• Apple Publishing

In 2010, Apple Corps took the second spot on the Fast Company magazine’s list of most innovative companies in the music industry, after the release of their video game The Beatles: Rock Band.

When the Beatles dissolved in 1975, the dissolution of Apple Corps was also under consideration, but they decided to keep it operating. The company exists to this day and is located in Knightsbridge in London, with ownership and control remaining with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon.

After the breakup of the band, McCartney’s music continued to be released by Apple Records. In 1975, he re-signed with EMI worldwide, acquiring ownership of his solo catalog as part of the deal.

The company was also in a long-running legal dispute with the Steve Jobs- and Steve Wozniak-owned Apple Computers.

In 1981, Apple Computers paid McCartney’s Apple Corp $80,000 and agreed to not enter the music industry. When Apple Computers added music recording capabilities to devices, it had to pay the company $26.5 million.

A further lawsuit ensued with the launch of iTunes with the dispute eventually being settled in 2007. By 2010, the Beatles back catalog was launched in iTunes and over 450,000 albums were sold in the first week alone.

MPL Communications

In 1979, Paul McCartney signed with Columbia Records in Canada and the US, signing what was considered the most lucrative recording contract to date, but he remained with EMI for distribution in other countries. CBS gave McCartney ownership of Frank Music, the publisher of the catalog of Frank Loesser.

Since 1979, MPL Communications, his publishing company, has published all of McCartney’s songs. In 2007, he signed with Hear Music, becoming the first artist of the label.

Today, MPL Communications – or McCartney Productions Ltd. – owns the copyrights of 100 years’ worth of music, including the distribution rights for songs from artists like Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, and Carl Perkins, among others.

Performing Art School

In 1996, Mark Featherstone-Witty opened the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), in partnership with Founding Patron Paul McCartney. The school is based on the site of McCartney’s old school, The Liverpool Institute for Boys.

Investments through MPL Ventures

McCartney started his investment business MPL Ventures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it, he invested in the plant-based food firm TiNDLE, as well as the music startup that worked on ABBA’s Voyage album. He reportedly invested £1.5 million in TiNDLE.

Real Estate

Today, Paul McCartney reportedly owns over $100 million in real estate worldwide. Here is a breakdown of his portfolio:

• 1984: Acquired a New York City townhouse for $1.88 million
• 1998: Spent $495,000 on a home in East Hampton
• 2001: Acquired Courtney Love’s mansion in Beverly Hills for $4 million
• 2015: Spent $15.5 million on a penthouse in Manhattan. He sold this property in 2022 for $8.5 million

In addition to these properties, Paul McCartney owns a ranch outside of Tucson of an unknown value, and a half dozen properties in the United Kingdom, including a London flat, a Scotland country estate, and a 1,500-acre estate in East Sussex.

Inheritance

When Paul’s first wife Linda died, she was independently wealthy. Along with her earnings from her time with Wings, she had founded, developed, and sold off her vegetarian ready-meals brand Linda McCartney.

At the time of her death from cancer in 1998, her estate was estimated to be worth $200 million. She left it all to Paul in the form of a trust that will go to her four children when he dies, according to a will filed in New York City.

What Can We Learn from Paul McCartney’s Story?

Paul McCartney’s story is rich with lessons that can guide us in various aspects of life and business.

For starters, he teaches us a lesson about passion and persistence.

His early interest in music shows the importance of pursuing one’s passion. Despite early rejections, such as not being accepted into a choir as a child, he persisted and honed his skills. This persistence is what eventually made him one of the most influential musicians in the world.

After the Beatles disbanded, McCartney didn’t rest on his laurels.

He reinvented himself, forming Wings and embarking on a successful solo career. This ability to adapt and evolve has kept him at the top of his industry for decades.

McCartney’s work with the Beatles and collaborations with other artists highlight the importance of teamwork and the success that can arise from working with others. Furthermore, Paul McCartney leveraged his legacy with the Beatles to establish a powerful brand and used his experience to continue adding to his already high net worth and expand into other ventures.

From personal losses, such as his mother’s and wife’s death, to professional challenges, such as the dissolution of the Beatles and legal battles with one of the biggest tech companies in the world, Paul McCartney has shown immense resilience.

He has continuously bounced back and used his experiences to fuel his personal and creative growth.

Finally, McCartney’s willingness to experiment with different musical genres and technologies, from the use of classical elements in Yesterday to the conceptual approach of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, illustrates the value of pushing one’s creative boundaries to embrace innovation.