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Sony has agreed to acquire half of Michael Jackson\u2019s catalog from the star\u2019s estate, in what is likely the richest transaction ever for a single musician\u2019s work, according to two people briefed on the agreement.<\/p>\n
The deal, which has been gossiped about in the music industry for months<\/a>, is said to involve Sony purchasing a 50 percent stake in Jackson\u2019s recorded music and songwriting catalogs. That includes not only the estate\u2019s share of megahits like \u201cBeat It\u201d and \u201cBad,\u201d but also the music publishing assets that are part of Jackson\u2019s Mijac catalog, among them songs written by Sly Stone and tracks made famous by artists like Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis.<\/p>\n The deal is said to value Jackson\u2019s assets at $1.2 billion or more, according to the two people, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Even so, it leaves some of the estate\u2019s interests in other lucrative Jackson-related businesses off the table, like the Broadway musical \u201cMJ,\u201d Cirque du Soleil\u2019s Jackson-themed shows, and a biopic in the works that is set to star Jaafar Jackson, a son of Jackson\u2019s brother Jermaine.<\/p>\n The transaction is said to leave the estate a significant degree of control over the catalog. That contrasts with many other blockbuster catalog deals in recent years, like those with Bob Dylan<\/a>, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> and Paul Simon<\/a>. While those sales sometimes include finely negotiated parameters over how an artist\u2019s work can be used in the future \u2014 say, in commercials or political endorsements \u2014 they generally hand over management of songs to a buyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Representatives of Sony and the Jackson estate declined to comment on the deal, which was first reported by Billboard<\/a>. When asked about the news of the deal, John Branca, who was Jackson\u2019s entertainment lawyer in life and has been the co-executor of Jackson\u2019s estate, said: \u201cAs we have always maintained, we would never give up management or control of Michael Jackson\u2019s assets.\u201d<\/p>\n Primary Wave, a music company that owns a minority stake in Jackson\u2019s music publishing interests, was not a party to the transaction; a representative of Primary Wave declined to comment.<\/p>\n To a large extent, the deal is an endorsement of the continued star power of Jackson, and the enduring global appeal of his music, 15 years after his 2009 death at age 50<\/a>, on the eve of a comeback concert series in London.<\/p>\n That appeal has not diminished even in the face of challenges like \u201cLeaving Neverland,\u201d a two-part documentary broadcast by HBO in 2019 in which two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, recounted what they said was years of sexual abuse by Jackson when they were children. The Jackson estate called the film \u201ctabloid character assassination<\/a>\u201d and said that Robson and Safechuck had previously denied under oath that any abuse happened; Robson was a star witness at Jackson\u2019s molestation trial in 2005, at which Jackson was acquitted<\/a>.<\/p>\n After that film was released, Branca said<\/a> that it had an impact on the estate\u2019s business. But Jackson remains immensely popular with audiences. Each Halloween, streams of the song \u201cThriller\u201d spike. And \u201cMJ,\u201d the musical based on Jackson\u2019s life, opened two years ago and has grossed $172 million in New York, according to the Broadway League; the show also has an American touring production on the road and three international versions coming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Jackson was long associated with Sony and its Epic label, which released his megaselling solo albums like \u201cThriller\u201d and \u201cBad,\u201d though Jackson later recovered the rights to his recordings.<\/p>\n