All that he can leave behind

As he steps down as U2 manager after 35 years, Paul McGuinness hands over to his successor a corporate juggernaut that still packs ferocious earning power, writes Ian Kehoe.

U2 with Paul McGuinness (centre) at a signing of their book, U2 By U2, in London in 2006. Picture: MJ Kim/Getty

Paul McGuinness proclaimed last week that U2 had never subscribed to the ''rock and roll code of conduct''. McGuinness deployed the phrase to describe his decision to sell his Principle Management music agency, a corporate disposal that will see him step back from the day-to-day management of U2.

However, the impresario could equally have been describing any number of the band's canny financial manoeuvres, which range from setting up holding companies in the ...