Nearly 60 years after The Beatles formed Apple Corps, the company is moving in with Universal Music Group. UMG already manages the group's catalogue, and will now oversee physical and digital merchandise, licensing and e-commerce, Rolling Stone reported on August 19, 2026.
Apple Corps is the band's own business, and its holdings run well past records. The plainest piece of it is 3 Savile Row, the Mayfair townhouse that housed Apple's offices from June 1968, whose basement served as the studio for Let It Be and whose roof carried the group's final public performance.
The band sold that building in 1976 and has since bought it back. It opens in 2027 as a ticketed attraction called The Beatles at 3 Savile Row, with seven floors of artifacts from the offices that have never been shown, a recreation of the studio, further exhibitions and a store.
The other thing in front of the company is the film. Sam Mendes is directing a four-film Beatles project set to open in 2028, working from the first script to receive Apple's full blessing, and it will use the band's music, which the film Backbeat did not.
Tom Greene, chief executive of Apple Corps, said in a statement that "the Beatles message has never been more relevant or needed in the world today". Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of Universal, framed the arrangement as protecting and growing the group's legacy through fan experiences.
The site has covered Revolver at 60 and Mendes taking his Beatles films to Abbey Road Studios, both filed under rock. Apple has been putting its own history back into circulation too, making the fan-led Global Beatles Day official on June 25 and marking its involvement by re-releasing the original performance of All You Need Is Love.
The facts
- UMG will oversee Beatles merchandise, licensing and e-commerce as well as the catalogue.
- Apple Corps was formed by the band and is close to 60 years old.
- 3 Savile Row housed Apple's offices from June 1968.
- Let It Be was recorded in the building's basement.
- The group's last public performance was on that roof.
- The band sold 3 Savile Row in 1976 and later bought it back.
- The attraction opens in 2027 with seven floors of previously unseen artifacts.
- Sam Mendes' four-film Beatles project is due to open in 2028.
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