Washington - He recorded the best-selling album in history.
For a time, he pulled down 50 million dollars a year, with an
overall worth reported at 750 million dollars.
Yet when he died Thursday, Michael Jackson was deeply in debt.
Three decades of extravagant living and legal fees from two
high-profile scandals left the pop superstar owing as much as 500
million dollars, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Jackson, who passed suddenly at age 50, sold more than 750 million
records worldwide. He generated enormous wealth from his concert
tours and catalog holdings, but didn't know how to spend wisely.
'There was no planning in terms of allocations of how much he
should spend,' Alvin Malnik, a lawyer and former financial adviser to
Jackson, told The New York Times in 2006. 'Millions of dollars
annually were spent on plane charters, purchases of antiques and
paintings.'
Jackson did make one very shrewd business decision: in 1985 he
paid 47.5 million dollars to acquire ATV Music, which owned the
rights to 251 songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote with The
Beatles.
In 1995, he sold half of the catalog ownership to Sony for 150
million dollars, but both halves remained under joint management by
Sony/ATV, including Jackson's own music.
Jackson's stake in the catalog at the time of his death was
estimated at 1 billion dollars, Ivan Thornton, a private-wealth
adviser who has worked with Jackson and his family, told Bloomberg
financial news service.
The Sony deal had helped the King of Pop maintain financial
security through the late 1990s and into the 21st century, The Wall
Street Journal reported, despite an expensive lifestyle that included
high-class hotel fees for the singer and his entourage, impulsive
purchases of art and antiques and lavish gifts for friends like
actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Diminished album sales took their toll as well. His 1982 album
Thriller sold more than 100 million copies. By 2001, Invincible sold
only 6 million copies, and cost Jackson 25 million dollars to
produce.
Jackson also incurred massive settlement and legal fees stemming
from two separate accusations of child-molestation.
In 1993, a 13-year-old boy claimed Jackson molested him while he
had been a guest at the singer's Neverland ranch in California.
Jackson vehemently denied the accusations, but is believed to have
paid a 20-million-dollar out-of-court settlement to the boy accuser
to head off a criminal case against him.
In 2003, Jackson was charged with intoxicating and sexually
abusing a boy who had said in a documentary that he would sometimes
share a bed with Jackson. He was cleared of all charges in 2005 after
a high profile four-month trial.
Reports of Jackson's financial troubles began to surface in 2006.
He closed the main house of Neverland ranch as a cost-cutting
measure, but repeatedly failed to pay interest on the 24.5 million
dollars he owed on the property.
A last-minute refinancing agreement narrowly saved Neverland from
public auction in 2008.
In April Jackson abruptly cancelled an auction of his personal
memorabilia, including the crystal-covered glove he wore in the hit
music video for Billie Jean and numerous musical awards. Auctioneers
estimated that the 1,390 items could have raised between 10 and 20
million dollars to help Jackson pay down the debt on Neverland.
In March the singer announced a comeback with a series of 'curtain
call' shows that were to be held at the O2 Arena in London in July.
Some doubted whether the former superstar could still draw the
crowds, but enormous demand for tickets eventually extended the run
from 10 shows to 50 shows
Critics claimed that Jackson would only perform in London to
rebuild his battered finances. It just might have worked.
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