Tag Archives: Michael Jackson

Do celebrities make money after they die?

In one word “yes”. Following is the article recently released by Forbes that lists the highest paid celebrities who died this year.

While the Pearly Gates seemed to welcome an unusual amount of celebrities in the past year (David Bowie, Prince and Arnold Palmer, to name just three), the long-departed King of Pop had the time of his afterlife.

The March sale of Michael Jackson’s half of the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog, famous for its library of Beatles tunes, for $750 million puts him at the top of our annual ranking of the top-earning dead celebrities, an ironic finish given that many critics and even advisors once derided the catalog as a badly overpriced investment. Jackson’s total pretax payday of $825 million ranks as the biggest annual haul by any celeb dead or alive.

“He was always doing stuff that was the best, the greatest, the biggest,” says Jeff Jampol, who manages the estates of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and others. “That was a big fight when he wanted to buy that catalog … it turned out to be one of the greatest investments ever.”

In 1985, Jackson paid $47.5 million ($140 million in 2016 dollars) to buy the Beatles-packed ATV publishing catalog. Ten years later, Sony paid him $115 million to form a 50/50 joint venture, then purchased his remaining half in March. In all, the sales (and accompanying distributions) gave Jackson’s estate, which is overseen by lawyer John Branca and music exec John McClain, a 30% annualized return on investment.

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz claims the second spot with $48 million. The cartoonist died of colon cancer 16 years ago, but lives on through the franchise—and its licensing revenue, boosted by last year’s well-received 3-D Peanuts movie. Golf legend Arnold Palmer rounds out the top three with earnings of $40 million, most of which was accumulated in the mortal realm, as he passed away just days before our cutoff.

Our set of 13 Halloween-spooky estimates are for pretax income from October 1, 2015, through October 1, 2016, before deducting expenses for agents, managers and lawyers. Sources include Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen BookScan, PollstarPro, IMDB and interviews with estate experts.

Michael Jackson: The King Of Pop–and celeb earnings–dead or alive (Photo: Mike Powell /Allsport).

Recently deceased superstars Prince and David Bowie also rank high on the list. The Purple One passed away while still at the top of his touring game (grossing nearly $2 million per show) and sold more than 2.5 million albums over the past year, more than any other dead musician. Bowie, meanwhile, released his final album, Blackstar, just two days before his death; the ensuing sales spike helped him outsell Jackson and Elvis Presley (No. 4, $27 million) in the last year.

Presley’s total represents a 50% drop from last year’s figure (a change in how we accounted for Graceland ticket sales, not plummeting demand, accounts for the change). The King of Rock n’ Roll still moved more than 1 million albums on the year—most of them physical, not digital—remarkable for someone who’s been gone for nearly 40 years.

As for Jackson, the Sony/ATV payday gives him the last laugh over doubters. But a decade ago, he already knew what a good deal he’d made, as detailed in my book Michael Jackson, Inc. On a 2007 conference call, the King of Pop reminded Sony/ATV chief Marty Bandier of the acumen that had earned him a nine-figure return on paper by that point.

“See,” he told Bandier. “I told you I knew the music publishing business.”

13. Elizabeth Taylor ($8 million)
12. Steve McQueen ($9 million)
11. David Bowie ($10.5 million)
10. Bettie Page ($11 million)
9. Albert Einstein ($11.5 million)
8. John Lennon ($12 million)
7. Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel ($20 million)
6. Bob Marley ($21 million)
5. Prince ($25 million)
4. Elvis Presley ($27 million)
3. Arnold Palmer ($40 million)
2. Charles Schulz ($48 million)
1. Michael Jackson ($825 million)

You may not be a celebrity and you may not have an estate worth millions of dollars but you still need to do some planning for what you want to have happen to the assets you do have. For more information about this topic, check our our website www.diesmart.com.

6 other stars who didn’t have wills

There have been numerous stories lately about Prince and the fact that he had no known will when he died. But he’s not the only famous person who wasn’t prepared.

Here are 6 others who died without a will:

1)      Michael Jackson died in 2009 at age 50. A will did finally surface naming his mother and children as his beneficiaries. However, his estate is still in the news. The IRS is claiming that posthumous projects initiated by the estate are worth more than $434 million and they want their share of the take.
2)      Amy Winehouse died in 2011 at age 27. She was thought to have a will when she died, but it turned out she didn’t. Her estate ultimately went to her parents.
3)      Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981 at age 36. It took more than 30 years before his estate was settled. Under Jamaican law his estate was to be divided equally between his wife and his 11 children. Court battles raged for many years to determine who was entitled to Marley’s name and likeness.
4)      Jimi Hendrix died in 1970 at age 27 but the fight for his estate went on for more than 30 years. The estate went to his father and when he died, Hendrix’s sister was left in control of the musician’s $80 million estate. However, the court fight was about who had the right to use the singer’s image and it was finally settled shortly before a scheduled July 2015 jury trial.
5)      Sonny Bono died in 1998 at age 62. His wife Mary Bono has to go through probate court to become the executor of the estate and it ultimately was divided between her and his two children.
6)      Kurt Cobain died in 1994 at age 27. His wife Courtney Love was the primary beneficiary of the publishing rights to his estate. In 2010 the couple’s then 18-year-old daughter took control of her trust fund which was more than a third of the estate. That same year, Love gave up rights to Cobain’s name and likeness for a loan.

Just because these people were not prepared and did not leave wills, that’s no reason for you to follow suit. Don’t let the probate court decide who should inherit your estate. Write a will and tell your family and other loved ones what you want to have happen to all of your assets. You decided and make your wishes known.

For more information about estate planning, go to our website www.diesmart.com.

Why is Michael Jackson’s estate back in the news?

When Michael Jackson died in 2009 at age 50, he left a will that specified what should be done with his assets.

He may not have taken into consideration what those assets would be worth in subsequent years…but the IRS has now done so. There is now a huge dispute between the Internal Revenue Service and Michael Jackson’s estate over what should be paid in estate taxes.

According to Michael Jackson’s representatives, the value of the estate is currently $2,105; according to the IRS, it’s more like $434 million. “With interest and penalties, lawyers estimate the case – set for trial at a Los Angeles tax tribunal in 2017 – could be worth more than $1 billion.” The outcome of this trial could impact celebrity estate planning.

Howard Weitzman, the estate’s lead attorney, that the Michael Jackson name has “experienced a commercial rebirth thanks to the savvy executors who have managed the estate’s assets.” He estimates that Jackson earned no more than $50 million for the licensing of his name and image when he was alive and doesn’t think that what’s been done since Jackson’s death should impact what the estate pays.

It is important to note that this is the first time ever that the IRS is pursuing estate taxes for name and likeness earnings after a celebrity’s death.

If the estate loses the case, Michael Jackson’s heirs will be hit with a huge tax bill. If the IRS wins, this will probably be the first of many celebrity estate cases that it will pursue.

You are probably not worth $434 million and your heirs won’t be faced with this kind of issue when you die.

However, knowing what your estate is worth and putting into place the correct type of plan to protect these assets for your loved one is critically important. If you don’t have a will, you should consult an estate attorney and get one written today. Otherwise, the government will decide what will happen to your assets and your family will have no say in the matter.

For information about estate planning, go to www.diesmart.com.