Is Sony/ATV catalog up For Sale Despite Michael's Wish?*Update Post 57: Estate Will Not Sell*

[twinklEE]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

Yes, they are uneducated and greedy for sure, but what they didn't realize is that their brother/son was not only a musical genius but a business genius. He not only appointed the right ppl but he made sure that his whole fortune will not pass to his children until they turn 40 which will be too late for his family to get their grubby hands on any of it.

And frankly I don't trust any of his family members. I thought I trusted Rebbie and Janet, but they betrayed him too. Katherine is unfortunately caught in the middle and even though strong in many matters, is not strong enough to say NO to Joe who is the first to try to make money off of his son.

I agree there is no one trustworthy among them although I love Jackie, no one can be trusted

 

[blankyluvdoodoo]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

i guess for media ,it is still hard to take in that their beloved Beatles and Elvis belongs to Michael ..............ha ha suckers.:tease:

 

[victorytour84]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I wish i had enough money to buy the Estate and give it back to the MJ kids

 

[elusive moonwalker]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

eh?....the estate is theres

 

[Krshna28]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

Well the Sony/ATV is in the name of Katherine and Michael's Children.........

I thought that they would need authority to sell it.............

+ the estate has made a loads and load of money since Michael passed away.



But reality check.............remember the new deal between Sony and the Estate for future releases of anything MJ. Combine that with the revenue of Sony/ATV and all other Estate projects = tons and tons of money.......

Random recent article about the prospering of the Estate
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/arts/music/23jackson.html

 

[MJMarty]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I have to laugh at the way some reporters put it... Let's not forget, Michael began buying rights with Northern Songs AKA The Beatles plus a few for $47.5 million in the mid-eighties and $ony paid him $90 million for half of these in the mid nineties.

They paid HIM more than he paid for the entire catalogue for a 50% stake. Michael effectively got paid for buying publishing rights, not to mention the tens of millions that catalogue collected over the ten or so years he had it before $ony's advance. Saying they "effectively control" the asset doesn't really make sense. They are adding to it yes, with their record labels that are worth a ton, but what they put in, half will always fall in technicality to MJ's Estate. To sell this would be like giving $ony a few hundred million in the long run for, oh I guess being so nice to Michael through the Invincible fiasco perhaps...

The executors will refinance that Barclay's loan fairly easily with the future albums $ony have paid for, the Cirque du Soleil show and the god knows how many other projects in the pipeline. Michael knew to trust these people financially, and only allow Katherine legal access to the pot, to keep it full and healthy for his children.

 

[PCR]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I don't know if this info makes really sense, since I think they didn't mention all the deals the Estate has done so far, but whatever.
I remember those documents we so some weeks ago, about the Estate having no right to sell any of MJ's assets unless they are unprofitable. It's clear the catalog is far from being unprofitable, so I think all this guessing makes little sense.

BUT.... I would just add it is not nice at all to read the Estate "could be forced to sell its stake in Sony/ATV" ... just the mention of it, gives me shivers.

:mello:

 

[Naturelle]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I wish i had enough money to buy the Estate and give it back to the MJ kids

what? it its theirs .:yes:

 

[blueocean]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

no, the estate won't sell it. They want us to believe that Mike struggled with debt for the last 15 years and managed to get by with refinancing deals and yet all of a sudden, for some unknown reason, the Estate must sell their share of Sony/ATV.
Loans matured during Mike's lifetime and he was able to refinance one way or another without selling and this is no different. If the estate cannot pay the entire loan off they will refinance it.


Also, they're way too low on their estimation of how much money the estate earned in the last year. Even with only a little knowledge of the deals that have been made and the sales figures, it's not too much of a stretch to say the Estate made more than $200million in the past year.

Yes branca will sell the catalogue to sony he worked against michael before trying to do this, what's going to stop him now he got the power, just like branca make a deal with sony to put out 10 albums, when knowing michael wanted to cut ties with sony remember.

 

[iamthriller82]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

Yes branca will sell the catalogue to sony he worked against michael before trying to do this, what's going to stop him now he got the power, just like branca make a deal with sony to put out 10 albums, when knowing michael wanted to cut ties with sony remember.

Didn't MJ fire branca because of how he negotiated the masters under the 1991 contract would only revert back to MJ many years from when it should have?

 

[Pascal09]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

"As part of the agreement under which Barclays ultimately refinanced that debt, Mr. Jackson granted Sony an option to buy half of his stake in the company at any time for a fixed price of $250 million. At the time that was a generous valuation, but Sony/ATV's value has since soared to around $2 billion."

i think the key point in the article is not whether the estate has enough money to refinance or not. Because according to the article (quoted section above , SONY can purchase half of MJ's share at anytime for a fixed price of $ 250M. The decision to purchase that 25% depends on SONY. So i think there is nothin the estate can do about that because MJ signed the agreement with sony before his death.

P.S: i think if I misunderstood or misread it some one can explain it/correct me. The question is why will MJ allow ony to buy 25% of his share at a fixed price and at anytime (i.e. without anytime frame). Can some one answer that?

 

[ginvid]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

People can we refrain from using this topic as a reason to attack MJ's brothers? I mean really?

 

[Roxa]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I don't know if this info makes really sense, since I think they didn't mention all the deals the Estate has done so far, but whatever.
I remember those documents we so some weeks ago, about the Estate having no right to sell any of MJ's assets unless they are unprofitable. It's clear the catalog is far from being unprofitable, so I think all this guessing makes little sense.

BUT.... I would just add it is not nice at all to read the Estate "could be forced to sell its stake in Sony/ATV" ... just the mention of it, gives me shivers.

:mello:

I agree with you! Seems like I read this too, if I remember well.

I did understand that Sony/ATV will forced to sell to Sony if the Estate don't pay the debts, but if Sony to buy, it will buy a lot of debts too.

 

[Roxa]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

The executors will refinance that Barclay's loan fairly easily with the future albums $ony have paid for, the Cirque du Soleil show and the god knows how many other projects in the pipeline. Michael knew to trust these people financially, and only allow Katherine legal access to the pot, to keep it full and healthy for his children.

I hope so

 

[Rasta Pasta]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

its funny...when other celebrities die they are not so far up in their azzes about their finances...but when it comes to Michael...oh boy..

hello..Michael was a corporation..

good grief....

 

[Justthefacts]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

"As part of the agreement under which Barclays ultimately refinanced that debt, Mr. Jackson granted Sony an option to buy half of his stake in the company at any time for a fixed price of $250 million. At the time that was a generous valuation, but Sony/ATV's value has since soared to around $2 billion."

i think the key point in the article is not whether the estate has enough money to refinance or not. Because according to the article (quoted section above , SONY can purchase half of MJ's share at anytime for a fixed price of $ 250M. The decision to purchase that 25% depends on SONY. So i think there is nothin the estate can do about that because MJ signed the agreement with sony before his death.

P.S: i think if I misunderstood or misread it some one can explain it/correct me. The question is why will MJ allow ony to buy 25% of his share at a fixed price and at anytime (i.e. without anytime frame). Can some one answer that?

No no that is not right I remember reading about that deal and they can by 25 percent for way more then 250 mil that is why they have not bought it

 

[blueocean]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

And it begins..................

Yes It is many eyes will open.

 

[ivy]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

"As part of the agreement under which Barclays ultimately refinanced that debt, Mr. Jackson granted Sony an option to buy half of his stake in the company at any time for a fixed price of $250 million. At the time that was a generous valuation, but Sony/ATV's value has since soared to around $2 billion."

i think the key point in the article is not whether the estate has enough money to refinance or not. Because according to the article (quoted section above , SONY can purchase half of MJ's share at anytime for a fixed price of $ 250M. The decision to purchase that 25% depends on SONY. So i think there is nothin the estate can do about that because MJ signed the agreement with sony before his death.

P.S: i think if I misunderstood or misread it some one can explain it/correct me. The question is why will MJ allow ony to buy 25% of his share at a fixed price and at anytime (i.e. without anytime frame). Can some one answer that?

yes the refinancing deal reportedly allows Sony to buy the 25% of the catalog for a fixed price.

as to your question why , I can think of for example it could be because if Michael defaulted the loan and had to sell the catalogue or the catalogue to be repossessed it would allow Sony to have the majority of the catalogue and keep the decision making power. sony wouldn't want to be partners with just anybody. so it could be an insurance policy on sony's part.

of course there could be several other reasons as well. mine is just a scenario.

 

[144000]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

yes the refinancing deal reportedly allows Sony to buy the 25% of the catalog for a fixed price.

as to your question why , I can think of for example it could be because if Michael defaulted the loan and had to sell the catalogue or the catalogue to be repossessed it would allow Sony to have the majority of the catalogue and keep the decision making power. sony wouldn't want to be partners with just anybody. so it could be an insurance policy on sony's part.

of course there could be several other reasons as well. mine is just a scenario.

reportedly. i know there's a reason why the media always starts something with that word.

lol...people used to get on religious people for running doomsday statements, that they say, never materialize, and sound like pie in the sky..

people have to work hard to imagine these scenarios..

but thanks for admitting the word 'scenario'...

although none of these articles ever sound grounded..or ever make business sense...

not trusting but needing to hold onto but, supposedly willing to hold onto, but never materializing in taking over, over a 15 year period, all at the same time, while the supposed teeterer never seems to teeter off the ledge over that long period. wow. but if they wanna get people to believe the sky is not above, they can do it.

when Michael said something was not for sale, he meant it. it isn't. the last thing they did was pay him a king's ransom for a joint venture. that's it. that's what he said..that's what he walked away with. his fifty percent. and that is all that ever happened. and Michael said it in his video. and he didn't use the word 'reportedly'.

everything else is..reportedly.


although i know that if Michael and a sony exec stood next to each other and told two different stories..i know there are people out there who would take the exec's word over Michael's. i'm not one of those people.

a

 

[ivy]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

^^
I understand that you don't trust the media, but I really cannot see the logic in nit-picking to every post that quotes a news article. None of us were/ are in Michael's inner circle or have the first hand knowledge of the deals / reasonings / behind the scenes etc information. so we rely on the what information available - generally not complete and sometimes biased. It's not like anybody here claims to have the perfect information or the undisputed facts. ( I certainly don't !) this is a discussion board and we discuss. it's that simple..

I believe you made it very clear of the fact about your hate and distrust towards media, I would personally prefer you contribute to the discussion in regards to the topic (Sony, catalogue, can it be sold etc ) so that we can actually discuss the issue at hand (to me the future of the catalogue is a much more important topic than focusing on the hate towards media) but hey that's just me.

 

[144000]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

^^
I understand that you don't trust the media, but I really cannot see the logic in nit-picking to every post that quotes a news article. None of us were/ are in Michael's inner circle or have the first hand knowledge of the deals / reasonings / behind the scenes etc information. so we rely on the what information available - generally not complete and sometimes biased. It's not like anybody here claims to have the perfect information or the undisputed facts. ( I certainly don't !) this is a discussion board and we discuss. it's that simple..

I believe you made it very clear of the fact about your hate and distrust towards media, I would personally prefer you contribute to the discussion in regards to the topic (Sony, catalogue, can it be sold etc ) so that we can actually discuss the issue at hand (to me the future of the catalogue is a much more important topic than focusing on the hate towards media) but hey that's just me.

problem is, you can't seperate the two, because the media does all the reporting of it. after that, it is a guessing game.

i trust Michael's words. he grew with innocence and honesty. the people in the business around him, did not. and he was their target.

it's sad that there are people that don't want to acknowledge that.

and your statement is not that simple, because people don't just discuss on a discussion board. they formulate their opinions about Michael based on that disputable info.

people are writing the history of Michael based on that disputable info.

and lastly, people are walking into this site, and calling Michael Jackson a poor boy, who needed rescuing, and turning this discussion board into a board of storms, and making your jobs harder, and having you blame the members, because of this disputable info.

if i came at you with some incomplete info about you, and i used disclaimers to protect myself from you suing me, while i was discussing another 'subject at hand', wouldn't you nit pick every post i put up, telling me how off base, and uniformed i am, until i either got it right, or admitted, i didn't know? i think you would.

so..i'm doing the same for Michael.

can't we treat Michael as we would treat ourselves?

isn't the golden rule, do unto Michael, as we would have done to ourselves?

aren't we fans of his? isn't that what we're supposed to do?

 

[ivy]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

i trust Michael's words.

I do too , anytime , over any media - that's not even debatable in my mind.

However turning back to our topic at hand, Michael never talked about the 2006 refinancing deal - so does that mean that it never happened? Then there's no loan, no repayment, no interest, no buyout option, no chance of default, no chance of selling the catalogue.. it's all good.. why would we even need this thread then?

so where do you draw the line?

by your logic we would have little to none information in a lot of topics. for example media was the one that reported the latest deal with sony as well. so with your logic we don't know whether there's an agreement or not, whether it is for 1 album or 10, whether it's paying $250 dollars or $250M.

Get my point?

people are walking into this site, and calling Michael Jackson a poor boy, who needed rescuing

well then we'll educate them. Michael Jackson was never poor or broke.

if you ever studied accounting you'll know that income is divided as cash, current assets and fixed assets. Assets are still money but by nature they are hard to sell and do not necessarily turn into cash quickly so they are not seen as immediate cash..

Now even if you go with the not perfect, disputable and biased media reports in this regards Michael would be "cash poor but asset rich" - meaning he didn't have a lot of cash at hand but he had very valuable assets.

Let me demonstrate this by a little calculation : Media said that Michael had around $400M debt / loan but his share in Sony/ATV alone worth $800M to a $1B.. so by simple math you can see that if he liquidize everything he would be worth $400M to $600M. So it is obvious that he was never poor, never broke - that's another thing that's not even debatable in my book.

and it's obvious that the media was either unbelievably not knowledgeable, or extremely biased or just wanted to twist the situation and come up with sensationalized news about Michael - you are absolutely right about that.

but we all have brains, just like you can see from my above mini calculation I can simply use my brain and the numbers that media reported and see the truth and see the lies..

so in closing, I don't believe that we have to reject anything and everything that the media reports , but we have to be smart about it and evaluate / measure / calculate it before we accept it.

 

[144000]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

I do too , anytime , over any media - that's not even debatable in my mind.

However turning back to our topic at hand, Michael never talked about the 2006 refinancing deal - so does that mean that it never happened? Then there's no loan, no repayment, no interest, no buyout option, no chance of default, no chance of selling the catalogue.. it's all good.. why would we even need this thread then?

so where do you draw the line?

by your logic we would have little to none information in a lot of topics. for example media was the one that reported the latest deal with sony as well. so with your logic we don't know whether there's an agreement or not, whether it is for 1 album or 10, whether it's paying $250 dollars or $250M.

Get my point?



well then we'll educate them. Michael Jackson was never poor or broke.

if you ever studied accounting you'll know that income is divided as cash, current assets and fixed assets. Assets are still money but by nature they are hard to sell and do not necessarily turn into cash quickly so they are not seen as immediate cash..

Now even if you go with the not perfect, disputable and biased media reports in this regards Michael would be "cash poor but asset rich" - meaning he didn't have a lot of cash at hand but he had very valuable assets.

Let me demonstrate this by a little calculation : Media said that Michael had around $400M debt / loan but his share in Sony/ATV alone worth $800M to a $1B.. so by simple math you can see that if he liquidize everything he would be worth $400M to $600M. So it is obvious that he was never poor, never broke - that's another thing that's not even debatable in my book.

and it's obvious that the media was either unbelievably not knowledgeable, or extremely biased or just wanted to twist the situation and come up with sensationalized news about Michael - you are absolutely right about that.

but we all have brains, just like you can see from my above mini calculation I can simply use my brain and the numbers that media reported and see the truth and see the lies..

so in closing, I don't believe that we have to reject anything and everything that the media reports , but we have to be smart about it and evaluate / measure / calculate it before we accept it.

what do i pull out of all this?

an exec at sony was quoted as saying they did the 250 million dollar deal.

everything else was preceeded by the word 'reportedly'. so..you didn't get my logic correct.

so i am able to deduce that sony made a 250 million dollar deal with Michael.

all the other stuff..loans, refi and all..no..i don't accept that.
all i hear is 'reportedly', and no interviews.

either way...indeed, i'll choose to accept what i'll accept and reject what i'll reject. and yes..Michael's last words are the final ones i believe.
by the way, i am already knowledgeable on the concept of cash 'poor' and asset rich.

i know that the very wise Michael operated on that mugging-proof way of living.

i'm sure the media wanted him to live in liquid fashion, so that he could either be liquidated, stolen from a hell of a lot more..or both. but he wasn't stupid. so they harrassed him for it, for life. and painted a horrible lying picture of him, for it. for life. they wanted to punish him for outsmarting them. and they DID punish him.

 

[Maria MJ]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

As far as I know, according to the 2006 refinancing deal, Sony has the option to by the 25% (half of his stake) if Michael defaults on his loan payments.
Therefore, if payments go on schedule, nothing happens.

 

[144000]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

that is as far as you have read in those disclaimer-laden articles that are designed to keep the media from being sued. REPORTEDLY refinanced. APPARENTLY have access to 25 percent more. which means they very well could NOT have access to 25 percent more.

every one of those articles starts by saying that they don't have access to Michael Jackson's personal finances, so they cannot assess any of the money or how much of it, passed through MJ's hands in a career that spans decades. i'll show you the copy and paste article that you have read, with the most important parts of the article in bold lettering:

What Happened to the Fortune Michael Jackson Made?

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writePost();



By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
Published: May 14, 2006
This article was reported by Jeff Leeds, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Timothy L. O'Brien and written by Mr. O'Brien.
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Wayne Harris


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• Sony Corp

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Motown Records
The Jackson 5 was paid royalty rates from Motown in the 60's that were much lower than what Mr. Jackson earned as a solo artist during his heyday in the 80's.

Associated Press
Mr. Jackson performing solo in the 80's.

Hasan Jamaili/Associated Press
Michael Jackson, left, and one of his children and a security guard in Bahrain. Mr. Jackson recently agreed to an overhaul of his finances.



SEATED in a $9,000-a-night luxury suite in the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, Michael Jackson played the role of a wealthy pop star as he met with two senior executives of the Sony Corporation last December. From the opulent setting to Mr. Jackson's retinue of advisers, there was little indication that Sony's troops were paying a visit because they were concerned that he was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy proceedings.
Sony was worried because Mr. Jackson was the company's partner in a lucrative music publishing business that included songs by the Beatles and other musicians. If Mr. Jackson became insolvent, his 50 percent share of that $1 billion business would be up for grabs to the highest bidder, leaving Sony to confront the uncomfortable possibility that it would be forced into a new, unpredictable partnership not of its own choosing.
With the waters of the Persian Gulf and a teeming, prosperous emirate splayed out far beneath them, the group got down to business. According to those who attended the meeting and requested anonymity because confidential financial matters were discussed, Mr. Jackson was pensive and cooperative, seemingly well aware of the gravity of his situation despite the grandeur of his surroundings. He only chirped up occasionally to remark on what a wonderful investment the catalog had been.
After listening to Mr. Jackson, Robert S. Wiesenthal, a senior Sony executive, eventually proposed that Sony would help the singer find a bank to lend him more than $300 million to pay off his debts. In exchange, Mr. Jackson would possibly forfeit a portion of his half of the Beatles catalog.
Just last month, Mr. Jackson — still swamped in debt, with his musical career in stasis and his personal life limned by scandal — agreed to that financial overhaul. It is likely to strip him of about half of his remaining stake in the catalog, which he has relied on as a financial lifeline for about a decade. According to executives involved in the restructuring talks, Mr. Jackson used the catalog, as well as copyrights to his own songs, as collateral for roughly $270 million in bank loans he took out to fund a spending spree that includes upkeep for his sprawling California ranch, Neverland, and other exotic luxuries.
Given how precarious Mr. Jackson's financial situation appears to be, it is unclear how long he will be able to retain his remaining stake in his prized music catalog. A reckoning appears near, and Mr. Jackson's ability to hold onto his fortune has proven to be as fleeting as stardom itself.
The arc of Mr. Jackson's career, and his management of his business and financial affairs, tracks some of the timeworn truisms about the realities of the entertainment industry and those who inhabit its upper tiers: a child star unwittingly beholden to others who control his bank account; a more mature adult who is savvy about packaging and marketing himself but who grows increasingly undisciplined about his spending; and, finally, a reclusive caricature locked inside a financial and emotional fantasyland of his own making.
For those without access to Mr. Jackson's personal accounts, assessing exactly how much money has passed through his hands over a career that spans decades is impossible. Sales of his recordings through Sony's music unit have generated more than $300 million in royalties for Mr. Jackson since the early 1980's, according to three individuals with direct knowledge of the singer's business affairs. Revenues from concerts and music publishing — including the creation of a venture with Sony that controls the Beatles catalog — as well as from endorsements, merchandising and music videos added, perhaps, $400 million more to that amount, these people believe.
WHATEVER portion of those earnings actually ended up in Mr. Jackson's wallet is also difficult to assess because it would have to account for hefty costs like recording and production expenses, taxes and the like that would have reduced income from his business endeavors. Mr. Jackson could not be reached for comment.
"I think that Michael never had any concept of fiscal responsibility, or logical fiscal responsibility. He was an individual that had been overindulged by those that represented him or worked for him for all of his life," said Alvin Malnik, a former financial adviser to Mr. Jackson and a former lawyer for Meyer Lansky, the late mob kingpin. "There was no planning in terms of allocations of how much he should spend. As a businessman, you can forecast your spending for the next six months to a year. For Michael, it was whatever he wanted at the time he wanted.
"Millions of dollars annually were spent on plane charters, purchases of antiques and paintings," Mr. Malnik continued. "If you want to take a trip to London, that's one thing. If you want to continue that trip and have your entourage of 15 or 20 people go with you, it gets expensive."
Others close to Mr. Jackson say that the performer's finances have not deteriorated simply because he is a big spender. They say that until the early 1990's, he paid relatively close attention to his accounting and kept an eye on the cash that flowed through his business and creative ventures. After that, they say, Mr. Jackson became overly enamored of something that ensnares wealthy people of all stripes: bad advice.
"Some people can go to a person like Michael and say, 'Listen, this is out of hand.' Other people would much rather say, 'Whatever you want,' and they don't care," said Frank Dileo, who was Mr. Jackson's manager from 1984 to 1989. "I think after me, there were a lot of people that didn't care. All they were interested in was what they were getting. And they killed the golden goose."
Michael Jackson has spent a lifetime surprising people, in recent years largely because of a surreal personal life, lurid legal scandals, serial plastic surgeries and erratic public behavior that have turned him — on his very best days — into the butt of late-night talk-show jokes and tabloid headlines. But when his career began to take off nearly four decades ago as a member of the pop group the Jackson 5, fans and entertainment industry veterans recognized something else about the pint-size musical dynamo that was unusual: He was in possession of an outsize, mesmerizing talent.
Deke Richards, a writer and producer who worked closely with Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, in shaping the earliest stages of Mr. Jackson's career, recalls watching the singer in one of his earliest performances in Los Angeles. It was 1969 at the Daisy Club, a Beverly Hills venue located on Rodeo Drive, and while the entire Jackson entourage impressed Mr. Richards, Michael was the star.
"It was almost evident that it was something special, it was like the reincarnation of Frankie Lyman," said Mr. Richards, referring to the 1950's teenage vocalist who turned "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" into a hit. "Nobody had seen anything like that since Frankie, a kid with chops like that who could sing like that. It was like a 30-year-old man was inside this little boy."
Although Mr. Gordy promoted Mr. Jackson as an 8-year-old wunderkind in advance of the Daisy Club appearance, the singer was just weeks shy of his 11th birthday when he performed there. Even so, he had already spent years in talent shows and performing in seedy Midwestern clubs under the aegis of Joe Jackson, his dictatorial and ambitious father. Joe Jackson and Mr. Gordy were the singer's twin mentors during Michael's early career; neither of them could be reached to comment for this article.
Despite Michael Jackson's youth, Mr. Gordy and others recognized that in addition to the singer's talent he also was an observant, diligent understudy keen to learn all that he could about the workings of the music business.
"Michael had a knowingness about him," Mr. Gordy recalled in a 1994 interview with Billboard magazine. "He paid close attention to every single thing I said. Even when my back was turned, I knew he'd be watching me like a hawk. The other kids might have been playing or doing whatever they were doing, but Michael was dead serious. And he stayed that way."
Mr. Jackson had his own recollections of those years. "When you're a show-business child, you really don't have the maturity to understand a great deal of what is going on around you. People make a lot of decisions concerning your life when you're out of the room," he wrote in "Moon Walk," his 1988 autobiography. "Berry insisted on perfection and attention to detail. I'll never forget his persistence. This was his genius. Then and later, I observed every moment of the sessions where Berry was present and never forgot what I learned. To this day, I use the same principles."
Mr. Gordy paid many of Motown's most successful acts, including the Jackson 5, far stingier royalty rates on their albums than they might have earned in a later era, and certainly lower than what Mr. Jackson himself earned during his heyday in the mid-to-late 1980's. According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's 1991 biography, "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness," Motown paid the Jackson 5 a royalty rate that was just a fraction of what Mr. Jackson secured for himself later in his career.
"There was a lot of pressure on Michael as a youngster to perform for the family," said Shelly Finkel, a former rock 'n' roll promoter who currently manages professional boxers and who periodically intersected with the Jackson family when Mr. Jackson was a child. "You get a kid like Michael Jackson and he's unsophisticated with his money and people take advantage. It's not a real upbringing. He didn't mature as a human in all directions."
The Jackson 5 jumped from Motown to CBS Records in 1975, and the company rewarded them with better contracts. They also received guaranteed fees of at least $350,000 per album, according to Mr. Taraborrelli's book, well above their Motown fees but still not approaching the stratospheric, multimillion-dollar guarantees Mr. Jackson would begin getting in the 1980's. Concerts offered another source of income, but it was still income that Mr. Jackson shared with his siblings and upon which his father kept a tight rein.
Mr. Jackson eventually broke with his father and the Jackson 5, a move toward creative and financial independence marked by his collaborations with Quincy Jones on a trio of albums. The most memorable of those is 1982's "Thriller," which eventually racked up sales of 51 million copies globally, according to the Guinness World Records, making it the best-selling album in history. Yet "Thriller" took a heavy toll, Mr. Jackson's associates say, setting a benchmark of success that the entertainer never stopped chasing.
Mr. Jackson's pre-expense share of the "Thriller" bounty — including the album, singles and a popular video — surpassed $125 million, according to a former adviser who requested anonymity because of the confidential nature of Mr. Jackson's finances. Those who counseled him in the "Thriller" era credit the pop star with financial acumen and astute business judgment, evidenced by his $47.5 million purchase of the Beatles catalog in 1985 (a move that served to alienate him from Paul McCartney, the Beatles legend who imparted the financial wisdom of buying catalogs to Mr. Jackson during a casual chat, only to see Mr. Jackson then turn around and buy rights to many of Mr. McCartney's own songs).
John Branca, an attorney who structured the purchase for Mr. Jackson and represented him from 1980 to 1990 and periodically after 1993, said he saw no signs of wayward financial behavior in the years straddling the release of "Thriller." "I think Michael was brilliant for a good part of his career — savvy, involved, on top of everything," Mr. Branca said. "I also think he was a marketing genius."
In the midst of the "Thriller" phenomenon, Mr. Jackson's appetites were still relatively modest by celebrity standards, and he had just begun to experience the possibilities of riches he had never known in his childhood. Acquaintances from that period say that he would occasionally borrow gas money, and he still lived in the Jackson family home in the suburban Encino section of Los Angeles.
Although he made an unsuccessful attempt in 1987 to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick, more famously known as "The Elephant Man," for $1 million, it wasn't until the end of the 1980's that he began to exhibit more baronial tendencies. In 1988, he made his $17 million purchase of property near Santa Ynez, Calif., that became Neverland.
At the same time, Mr. Jackson was redefining the concept of spectacle in pop music. He hired Martin Scorsese, the film director, to direct a video for his album "Bad," a clip that one adviser with direct knowledge of the production budget said cost more than $1 million. The same adviser said that Mr. Jackson netted "way north" of $35 million from a yearlong "Bad" tour that began in 1987, and that heading into the 1990's Mr. Jackson was in sound shape financially.
While Mr. Jackson began to routinely rotate through different teams of advisers in the 90's, and pour more of his own money into pricey projects like videos, at least one of his advisers from the period contends that Mr. Jackson kept a lid on his spending until even the late 1990's.
"I didn't ever see him take all kinds of people all around the world," said James Morey, who served as one of Mr. Jackson's personal managers from 1990 to 1997 (when Mr. Jackson fired him and turned for advice instead to the Saudi sheik Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal). "Michael is very bright, and Michael pretty much knew — even when he was advised something was too expensive — if he felt it was right for the art, he had the means to pay for it. He wasn't oblivious to what budgets were."
Other events, however, suggest that Mr. Jackson's finances were already under strain by the mid-90's. He retreated from working regularly after the release of "Dangerous" in 1991 and settled a child-molestation lawsuit for about $20 million. More significantly in terms of his finances, he had to sell Sony a 50 percent stake in the Beatles catalog in 1995 for more than $100 million, which one adviser said helped shore up the singer's wobbling accounts.
Mr. Jackson wouldn't produce another studio album of completely new material until 2001, yet whenever he surfaced with other works that were compilations of previously released material he still expected promotions and spectacles beyond anything done before. For his 1995 album, "HIStory," for example, he sought to shoot an extravagant "teaser" video to promote it. He shot the video in Hungary for millions of dollars and hired Hungarian soldiers to march in it.
"When they were shooting this thing in Hungary, the production company would call me in the middle of the night and say, 'Michael wants more troops,' " said Dan Beck, a senior marketing executive who worked on the video. "He dreamed the big dream. It was P. T. Barnum."
MR. JACKSON indulged in other pricey vanity projects, including what one adviser believes to be the most expensive — a 35-minute film called "Ghosts" that he co-wrote with the novelist Stephen King and shot in 1997 with Stan Winston, a special-effects whiz that cost well above $15 million. One person with direct knowledge of Mr. Jackson's spending said that the star paid a substantial portion of as much as $65 million on video projects in the mid-90's — outlays that contributed significantly to his financial problems.
Mr. Jackson also came under the sway of an assorted rotation of new advisers who apparently convinced him to make heavy bets on risky investments that never panned out. In late 1996, according to court papers, he met Myung Ho Lee, a Korean adviser who emerged as a central figure in the performer's debt binge.
Documents indicate that by late 1998, Mr. Jackson had already taken out and depleted a $90 million bank loan and Mr. Lee arranged a new, $140 million loan from Bank of America that was collateralized by the Beatles catalog and used to pay off earlier debts. Just several months later, the $140 million had evaporated and Mr. Jackson, fresh off of his divorce settlement with Lisa Marie Presley, obtained another $30 million line of credit from Bank of America. Mr. Lee said in court papers that in late 2000 he raised the original $140 million bank loan to $200 million, using part of that loan to pay down the $30 million credit line, which had been entirely tapped.
Although documents indicate that Mr. Lee brought at least two risky investment opportunities to Mr. Jackson, Mr. Lee still managed to castigate the performer in court papers for a lack of financial discipline in 1999 and 2000. "Jackson became fixated on obtaining expensive possessions and feeding his ego by listening to the advice of hucksters and imposters," Mr. Lee noted.
All the while, Mr. Jackson's spending ramped up. As described by several of Mr. Jackson's former associates, he routinely borrowed large sums of cash to pay for things he may not have been able to afford. Marc Schaffel, who formerly served as an adviser on Mr. Jackson's television projects, alleges in a lawsuit scheduled for trial next month that Mr. Jackson failed to reimburse him for outlays of more than $2.2 million, much of it in cash.
THESE expenses included $46,075 in August 2001 for appraisals and architectural work done as Mr. Jackson considered buying a home in Beverly Hills; a $1 million fee paid to Marlon Brando in September 2001 so that the film star would appear at a Madison Square Garden event and in a video honoring Mr. Jackson; more than $380,000 for the purchase of a Bentley Arnage sport sedan and a custom Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicle; and $250,000 in June 2003 for antique shopping in Beverly Hills.
Mr. Malnik, who began advising Mr. Jackson a few years ago, said in an interview that the entertainer had spent about $8 million annually on plane charters, antiques, paintings, hotel rooms, travel and other personal expenses, and that the annual upkeep for Neverland and its staff was about $4 million. A forensic accountant who testified in Mr. Jackson's criminal trial last year said that the singer's annual budget in 1999 included about $7.5 million for personal expenses and $5 million to maintain Neverland. None of this explains the scale of Mr. Jackson's borrowing, however, or the rapidity with which he burned through those funds.
The leading drain on Mr. Jackson's ample resources may have been monumentally unwise investments that apparently produced equally colossal losses. Mr. Malnik estimates that some of Mr. Jackson's advisers squandered $50 million on deals that never panned out — what he describes as amusement-park ideas and "bizarre, global kinds of computerized Marvel comic-book characters bigger than life." Mr. Malnik said that he had loaned Mr. Jackson $7 million, part of which was used to settle various lawsuits related to deals gone awry.
It's possible that Mr. Jackson's biggest costs may have shifted in early 2000 away from his shopping sprees to simply shouldering enormous monthly interest payments on his debt. According to one executive involved in his affairs, Mr. Jackson was making monthly payments of about $4.5 million in 2005 on $270 million in debt. That works out to an annual interest rate of about 20 percent, a toll more familiar in the worlds of credit cards, subprime lending and loan sharks and not commonly encountered by wealthy people with substantial assets. But Mr. Jackson's wildly errant spending had forced him to confront harsher realities.
By the time Mr. Jackson finally met with the Sony executives in Dubai last December, his onerous interest payments had left him in a bind. Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based investment group that specializes in distressed debt, bought Mr. Jackson's loans from Bank of America in 2003 after the singer missed some payments. It then began levying high interest rates. Fortress, which did not respond to an interview request, threatened to call its loan on Dec. 20 last year because of Mr. Jackson's delinquency. What especially concerned Mr. Jackson about that, said one person familiar with the talks, was that it was just five days before Christmas.
TO keep Mr. Jackson afloat, Sony arranged an extension with Fortress and brought in Citigroup and other potential lenders to arrange new financing at a lower rate. At a meeting in London on Valentine's Day earlier this year, Citigroup offered Mr. Jackson a new loan with a 6 percent rate. Citigroup struck a deal because Mr. Jackson agreed to give Sony the right to buy half of Mr. Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Beatles catalog at a future date for about $250 million, providing a backstop for Citigroup if Mr. Jackson defaulted.
To the amazement of others involved in the talks, Fortress then offered Mr. Jackson the same terms — a measure of how desirable the Beatles catalog has been and continues to be to the various financiers and advisers who have hovered around Mr. Jackson since he bought it two decades ago. By April, a final deal was in place. Citigroup ended up providing a $25 million mortgage on Neverland, most of which Mr. Jackson used to buy back a 5 percent stake in the catalog held by one of his early advisers, Mr. Branca.
For his part, Mr. Malnik said he thought Mr. Jackson might have been able to continue to afford his lifestyle and errant spending if he had continued to work, but, of course, Mr. Jackson chose to work less and less. "For Michael, it was, whatever he wanted at the time he wanted," Mr. Malnik said. "This was perpetuated over a great number of years. Ultimately, if you don't change the course of things, you get to the end of the day."
Even at the end of the day, however, some people still remember the beginning. When put on hold, telephone callers to Mr. Gordy's office are treated to the 1971 ballad "Got to Be There," Mr. Jackson's hit on his first album as a solo artist for Motown.
....................................

now i shall end this with the most important sentence in that article for YOU to look at. and i will post it, three times:

For those without access to Mr. Jackson's personal accounts, assessing exactly how much money has passed through his hands over a career that spans decades is impossible.

For those without access to Mr. Jackson's personal accounts, assessing exactly how much money has passed through his hands over a career that spans decades is impossible.

For those without access to Mr. Jackson's personal accounts, assessing exactly how much money has passed through his hands over a career that spans decades is impossible. __________________

 

[elusive moonwalker]

Re: Is Sony/ATV catalog up for sale despite Michael's wish?

As far as I know, according to the 2006 refinancing deal, Sony has the option to by the 25% (half of his stake) if Michael defaults on his loan payments.
Therefore, if payments go on schedule, nothing happens.

that option only lasted for x amount of time something like no more than 18 months

 

[babykinsilk05]

Michael Jackson Estate Decides to Keep Rights to Beatles Songs

By Brett Pulley

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Executors of Michael Jackson’s estate have decided to keep a 50 percent stake in a music publishing venture with rights to more than 250 songs by the Beatles, two people with knowledge of the situation said.

Since Jackson’s death a year ago, the executors had considered selling the stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, the estate’s most valuable asset, to address about $500 million of debt the late pop singer left, according to the people, who declined to be identified because deliberations aren’t public.

The decision to keep the business signals the estate can refinance a $300 million loan due later this year, the people said. Sony/ATV, which also holds rights to songs from Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, is valued at $1.5 billion to $2 billion, making Jackson’s half worth more than enough to settle all the estate’s debt, said Ivan Thornton, a New York-based financial adviser who has worked with Jackson and his family.

One of the executors, Los Angeles entertainment attorney John Branca, who represented the singer for much of his recording career and negotiated Jackson’s original purchase of the Beatles catalog, has been trying to avoid selling the publishing business because of its long-term value and the consistent revenue it generates, the people said.

In an e-mail sent days after Jackson’s death on June 25 last year, Branca said the Sony/ATV stake “is not for sale.” Still it was never certain a sale could be averted because the $300 million loan to Jackson, which was refinanced by Barclays PLC, is guaranteed by the Sony/ATV stake.

Millions Generated

Since Jackson died at the age of 50, his estate has generated over $250 million, with about $125 million coming from sales of Jackson’s own recordings, $60 million from an advance for the “This is It” theatrical documentary, about $35 million from music publishing, and more than $50 million from merchandise such as video games, one of the people said.

As a result, slightly less than $200 million of the estate’s debts have been paid and there’s certainty among executors that the loan can be refinanced, the people said. The estate has more than $50 million in cash on hand, they added.

Sony Corp. has an option to purchase one half of Jackson’s stake for $250 million, and also has the right of first refusal to purchase the entire stake, according to one of the people. Jimmy Asci, a spokesman at Sony/ATV, declined to confirm that those options exist.

Unreleased Songs

The Sony/ATV stake is expected to generate more than $10 million this year for the estate and beneficiaries, including Jackson’s 80-year-old mother and his three young children, according to one of the people

The estate also expects to receive additional DVD revenue from “This is It,” which was released by Sony Pictures in October 2009, one of the people said.

Jackson’s oldest brother, Jackie Jackson, is working with co-executor John McClain on an upcoming album of 10 unreleased songs by Jackson, said one of the people. McClain is a long-time family friend and former head of urban music at DreamWorks. McClain didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment.

--Editor: Peter Elstrom, Rob Golum

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...-decides-to-keep-rights-to-beatles-songs.html

 

[Ashtanga]

Re: Michael Jackson Estate Decides to Keep Rights to Beatles Songs

Jackson’s oldest brother, Jackie Jackson, is working with co-executor John McClain on an upcoming album of 10 unreleased songs by Jackson, said one of the people. McClain is a long-time family friend and former head of urban music at DreamWorks. McClain didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Is it true? Let's see.

 

[MJStorm]

The press and its pathetic attempt to portray MJ as a potential bankrupt before he died. Yet they say that selling ATV would pay all debts (a dream for these losers).

In every article the fact of MJ sold out 50 shows is minimized or ignored.

Bunch of idiots.

 

[damien shields]

I dont like Mclain doing the production of this album. His last two MJ works (to my knowledge) are songs; "This Is It" and "You Are My Life"...