Neil Aspinall, who started out as the band's road manager, is leaving after 40 years, the company said on Tuesday, with music executive Jeff Jones to become chief executive.
NEW YORK: The head of the Beatles' company Apple Corps, Neil Aspinall, who started out as the band's road manager, is leaving after 40 years, the company said on Tuesday, with music executive Jeff Jones to become chief executive.
Aspinall, who was a close friend of the Beatles since their formation in Liverpool, will be replaced by Jones, who has served as executive vice president, Legacy RecordingsSony BMG Worldwide since 1995. Jones will become Apple chief executive. Sony BMG is equally owned by Japan's Sony and Germany's Bertelsmann.
Apple said Aspinall had played an indispensable role to the four Beatles -- Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon.
"He was there since the inception of the band in Liverpool and has meant so much to the Beatles' family for all these years and still does," said a company statement.
"However, he has decided to move on."
No further reasons were given for his departure from Apple Corps, which is owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison.
Aspinall's departure comes just two months after Apple Corps settled a trademark squabble with Apple Inc., a deal that could finally pave the way for the Fab Four's songs to be sold on the iTunes music store.
At the time, Aspinall said it was great to put the dispute behind them, with the years ahead expected to be very exciting.
The Beatles have been high-profile holdouts from Internet music services such as iTunes, but it emerged during the trial of the trademark dispute that Apple Corps was preparing the band's catalogue to be sold online for the first time.
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