The dwindling of Michael Jackson’s millions is as mysterious as the cause of his death. Posthumously for the singer, Thriller has sold nearly a million more copies since his death a month ago. That Michael Jackson can rake in millions of dollars in income, dead or alive, is no mystery. He captured the fancy and adulation of millions of fans the world over. What is puzzling to some is how he managed to lose most of the money. He died on some half a billion dollars worth of debt.
Paying ‘$47.5 million in 1985 for the rights to a catalog of music that included 251 Beatles songs’ was a good move on his part. Profits from those materials plus all the other projects he did over the span of the past two decades gave him a gross worth of more than $400 million.
The rest of his cash-outs were one-way tickets to SpendVille. With no profits to return on these investments, Jackson’s coffers bottomed out. Relentless spending, legal settlements, a hefty divorce settlement, and meeting the payables on a string of bank loans subtracted heavily and quickly from his amassed wealth.
The 1,000-hectare ranch that became Neverland was bought at $17 million. ‘Maintaining the theme park — complete with zoo, movie theater and fairground — swallowed up about $5 million annually.’ The settlement on the early 1990s child-molestation case set him back by about $20 million. In 1995, he gave up half the rights to the Beatles’ catalog to Sony for the price of almost $100 million. That meant cutting in half all his future, potential, and eventual income from his most effective cash cow thus far. Divorce settlement with Lisa Marie Presley was not trifle. He also learned how to ‘increasingly use his earnings from music as collateral for loans’ that had interests that ate up more funds.
And the rest of his loads of cash went to his proverbial profligate spending on private plane charters, expensive hotels, entourages to bring along during his travels, antique shopping, and buying expensive toys. He really should have hired a stricter accountant.
Via TIME
