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Michael Jackson earns $1bn since death
King of Pop's estate generated 'at least' $1bn since his death last June, a new report estimates
A new report has estimated that the Michael Jackson estate generated "at least" $1bn (£675m) last year. According to Billboard, the Jackson estate's revenues for the last year are roughly equal to the GDP of Djibouti. About 24m Michael Jackson albums have been sold since last June, and almost a million more by the Jackson Five and the Jacksons – worth about £250m in sales. Add to this 39.4m song downloads, 4.5m ringtones, internet licensing worth £4m, £175m from the concert film This Is It, TV rights, DVD and Blu-Ray sales, and Jackson's music publishing empire, including rights to songs by everyone from the Beatles to Taylor Swift.
Besides two forthcoming Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil shows, a videogame, and a £135m deal for Jackson reissues, the King of Pop's estate even generated about $6.5m from fans who bought tickets to the singer's London O2 Arena shows but didn't want to return them for a refund. That's the equivalent of £4.38m for concerts Michael Jackson didn't even play.
The report arrives as Jackson's three children – Prince, Paris and Blanket – were described this week by their grandmother's lawyer as "normal … or as normal as can be under pretty extraordinary circumstances".
For the moment, the three siblings live with their grandmother Katherine Jackson at the family's ranch-style house in California's San Fernando valley. Jackson is raising them "a little less strict" than Michael would have done, she recently told the Mirror. While Katherine is still too shaken up from her son's death to watch the This Is It documentary, Michael's children have seen the concert film.
Michael Jackson's once beleaguered finances are looking rather sterling. Jackson's executors have reportedly paid off nearly $200m of his $500m debt, leaving just one major lender unpaid. The Wall Street Journal reports that a $300m loan from Barclays PLC, backed by Jackson's stake in Sony/ATV publishing, matures at the end of this year. It seems Prince, Paris and Blanket's circumstances are likely to remain "extraordinary" for quite some time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/22/michael-jackson-1bn
