Well, no, it's not like that. It was a private venture 50 percent owned by Sony itself, not merely a public venture with a shared big stockholder. Sony had substantial control over the company, which was made substantially of labels spun off from Sony, and which are now fully owned and controlled by Sony. Sony is the successor in interest, getting all of these labels' assets, including their goodwill or lack thereof.

Mainly, though, this corporation, which began with Sony and ended with Sony, fit very well with the Sony culture of abusing consumer trust for additional profit.