Michael purchased Little Richard's publishing and gave it back to him. This was AFTER the whole Beatles/ATV catalogue. When Michael purchased the ATV catalogue he basically told Paul McCartney to go fukk himself, but he treated Little Richard with respect as the architect of Rock N Roll....
Meanwhile, Michael licensed the Beatle's songs for commercials, both making him millions of dollars and angering Paul. When Michael's lawyer, John Branca, warned Michael that Paul might sue him, Michael laughed and said, "Fine, let him sue. Meanwhile, go license some more songs Branca, lets make some money, lets run this thing like a business."
When he got burned during that Pepsi commercial, he made Pepsi pay him 28 million dollars and agree to sponsor his next solo tour, which turned out to be the Bad tour. One of the most expensive tours of that time period.