THE Michael Jackson estate is in the process of selling half of its interests in the legendary singer’s music catalogue in a deal in the US$800 million-US$900 million (about RM3.43 billion-RM3.86 billion) range, Variety reported.
While details are unclear, the report says the package would include the estate's interests in Jackson's publishing, recorded-music revenues, the ‘MJ: The Musical’ Broadway show, and the upcoming biopic ‘Michael’, among other assets.
The deal, which is being negotiated between Sony and a possible financial partner, would be the biggest in the music catalogue market to date.
While the financial partner in the deal has not been confirmed, the suspects include Eldridge Industries and Shamrock.
Sony has a long history of involvement in major music catalogue deals, having previously acquired the publishing and recorded-music catalogs of Bruce Springsteen for around US$600 million and Bob Dylan's rights to his recorded-music catalogue for between US$150 million and US$200 million.
Reps for the Jackson estate, co-executors John Branca and John McClain, Sony and Primary Wave declined multiple requests for comment.
Such mega-deals have become common in recent years – the three core members of Genesis sold a catalogue package to Concord for US$300 million – but if the information is correct, the Jackson transaction is by far the largest to date.
The financial partner in the deal has not been confirmed, and it is unclear whether one is involved, but likely suspects include Eldridge Industries, which partnered with Sony on the Springsteen catalogue deal and acquired the Killers' pre-2020 publishing catalogue, and Shamrock, which recently partnered with Universal on a US$200 million-plus catalogue acquisition from Dr Dre and acquired the rights to Taylor Swift's first six albums from Universal in 2020.
For the entirety of Jackson's solo career and the latter years of his career with the Jackson 5, Sony and its predecessor, CBS, were the sole owners of his recorded-music catalogue.
The singer died in 2009 at the age of 50, and his estate's formidable entertainment interests have been handled with vigour by Branca, his longtime attorney, and co-executor John McClain.
Jackson's recorded-music catalogue is one of the most profitable in history – his 1982 ‘Thriller’ album alone is one of the two best-selling albums of all time and was the first to be certified 30-times platinum, though such figures have become muddled in the age of streaming.
Sony Corp reached a US$750 million agreement with the Jackson estate in 2016 to acquire the estate’s 50% stake in their joint venture, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which they formed in 1995.
Sony revealed in an earnings report in 2018 that as part of its US$2.3 billion acquisition of EMI Music Publishing, it had paid US$287.5 million for the Jackson estate’s 25.1% stake in that company.
At the end of that years-long process, which began six years ago but was not approved by the European Union until 2018, Sony had fully acquired EMI and Sony/ATV, making it the sole owner of the world's largest music publishing company. – The Vibes, February 8, 2023
