Did you know that Michael Jackson’s estate earns a cut of the revenue generated by The Beatles, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift?
Jackson purchased a 50% stake of Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 1985, which now includes a broad catalogue of music from artists such as The Beatles, Swift and Gaga. So, as a result of this clever business move, the King of Pop’s estate earns money from the sales of other artists’ music in addition to his own.
During the last 12 months alone, Jackson’s estate accumulated $145 million in revenue, a large portion of which came from his ATV deal. Watch his ‘Remember the Time’ video below and see his money at work:
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Smart man.
Smart move but it was a pity he couldn’t enjoy it, with all the debt he had.
Where does this cash go?
Joe Jackson’s pocket
LOLOLOLOL.
MJ was worth during his lifetime 1$ billion.then he went to a huge debt or some shit (he made some bad choices in last few years in his life ),but he still had money,and now after his death MJ’s estate is worth more then 1$ billion.he owns beatles catalog.which is incredible.The King of music,and earning money
Not only he was the king of pop he was also a business man.
Wow! I had no idea. That’s insane!
Trent you got it partially wrong.
MJ purchased ATV Music for $45M in 1985. In 1990, he merged it with Sony to create Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Because MJ’s portion (ATV included vast majority of The Beatles catalogue) worthies more than Sony’s at that tie, MJ also received a cash portion of $200M & retained half ownership of the newly created Sony/ATV. Now, the merged company is worth over $2B…which means MJ’s 50% represents over $1B. MJ might have had cash low problems, but he was never broke. At any give time he could have sold his 50% of Sony/ATV…
MJ was a smart man
Marie, Thank you Thank you Thank you! You are the first person to get it completely right. He had cash flow issues but he was never broke… I wish people would get the faxs right…