Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Guns N' Roses. The album was released on March 23, 2004. It hit #1 in the UK and #3 in the US. Despite some criticisms towards the track listing by fans (even Axl Rose and ex-Guns N' Roses members, who filed a joint lawsuit to try and prevent the release of the album), the album has proven a popular seller, selling 3 million copies in the U.S. to date. Greatest Hits became Guns N' Roses second-longest charting album in their homeland (after Appetite for Destruction), finally dropping out of the Billboard 200 chart in November 2006 following a 138-week stay. Universal Records' response to Rose's opposition to the record was that he had been given adequate time to supply them with a record but had failed to do so, and so they had produced their own Guns N' Roses record instead.

Critics of the compilation were somewhat disappointed, as many other popular songs from Appetite For Destruction and G N' R Lies were neglected from this release (including songs such as "Mr. Brownstone", "It's So Easy" and "Nightrain" and Lies tracks such as "Used to Love Her" "Reckless Life," the acoustic "You're Crazy") as well as the Use Your Illusion II single "Estranged".
It's also been noted on the All Music Guide review that the remastering on this album is not notable.

http://huderon.blogspot.com/2008/01/gun … -hits.html

I haven't done the math but 3 million in the US alone would provide them with a decent payback.   Now add the UK profits.  I could be wrong if they didn't get all the 13 million back but I am sure they got a decent amount off these sales since 2004.