LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – According to Variety, Michael Jackson’s (MJ) estate is in the process of finalizing a deal worth nearly a billion dollars ($800-900 million) for half of its interests in The King of Pop’s music catalog.
While there are not very many details on the deal, Sony and other possible financial partners are looking to buy 50% of the estate’s interest in MJ’s publishing, music revenues, the MJ: The Musical Broadway show, and the upcoming MJ biopic titled Michael, and more.
If the deal goes through, it would be the biggest deal to date for a music catalog, beating out Bruce Springsteen’s catalog sale to Sony for approximately $600 million. Sony also reportedly paid upwards of $150 million for Bob Dylan’s rights to his recorded-music catalog, after Dylan sold the rights to his publishing to Universal Music for almost $400 million.
A financial source reported to Variety that Primary Wave Music already owns a stake in MJ’s publishing catalog, but details are unknown.
Sources close to MJ’s estate told TMZ they would never sell 100% of the catalog. They said that the only way that even a 50/50 deal would work was if they still retained 100% management and control of the record.
MJ’s catalog of recorded music is highly sought after as his Thriller release from 1982 is one of the biggest sellers of all time – and was the first album in history to be certified 30x platinum (before the age of streaming).
The report comes on the heels of news MJ’s nephew Jaafar Jackson (Jermaine Jackson’s oldest son) was announced as the lead in the Antoine Fuqua-directed MJ biopic, Michael. “I’m humbled and honored to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life. To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon,” Jaafar wrote via his Twitter account.
I’m humbled and honored to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life. To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon.
Photo by Jourdynn Jackson pic.twitter.com/Xow9Mkakup
— Jaafar Jackson (@JaafarJackson) January 30, 2023
Stay tuned …
