Sony to Buy Gaylord Music Publishing Unit

Gaylord Entertainment Co., owner of the Grand Ole Opry, agreed to sell its Acuff-Rose Music Publishing unit, including the songs “Bye Bye Love,” “Oh Pretty Woman” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” to Sony Corp. for $157 million in cash to pay down debt.

Acuff-Rose, founded in 1942, owns more than 55,000 country-western songs by artists such as Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and the Dixie Chicks.

Gaylord also sold its 33% stake in the Opry Mills Shopping Center in Nashville for about $87 million in debt, cash and real estate to majority owner Mills Corp.