Sony Corp. Is Planning On Buying The "King Of Pop" Michael Jackson's Estate
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| Sony Corp. Is Planning On Buying The "King Of Pop" Michael Jackson's Estate |
The $750 million deal has Sony Corp. buying out the Jackson estate's piece of Sony/ATV, the joint music publishing company, whose holdings include songs by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Jackson, who died in 2009, paid $41.5 million for ATV Music in 1985.
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| Michael Jackson |
It was just the latest in a string of blockbuster moves that last year pushed Jackson to the top of Forbes' list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities with a reported $115 million, ahead of Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and Marilyn Monroe.
According to that report, the singer's estate has rung up more than $1 billion, pre-tax, to date.
With the Sony deal, the estate's executors -- attorney John Branca and music exec John McClain -- have pulled off what a source close to the estate called a "$1 billion turnaround," from $500 million of debt to $500 million in cash.
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| Michael Jackson Estate |
“This transaction further allows us to continue our efforts of maximizing the value of Michael’s Estate for the benefit of his children,” the co-executors of Jackson’s estate, attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, wrote in a statement.
“It also further validates Michael’s foresight and genius in investing in music publishing.”
Jackson purchased the ATV portion of the catalog in 1985 for $41.5 million, and he later merged it with Sony. It remained his most lucrative asset at the time of his death in June 2009 at age 50, though by that point Jackson was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
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