The late Michael Jackson is making bank in a deal with Sony, in which they will pay $750 million to his estate for his share of a joint music publishing venture that they do not own.
The BBC reports that he held a 50% stake in Sony ATV Music Publishing as part of a partnership that began in 1995 that holds rights to approximately three billion songs, including titles by Taylor Swift and The Beatles. The deal, however, does not include Jackson’s master recordings.
This deal with Sony marks the largest music buy out since Apple bought Dr. Dre’s Beats for $3 billion in 2014, which provided the music mogul with a cool $620 million. Still, Forbes reports that Sony’s agreement with the Jackson estate “already guarantees him the biggest annual haul of any musician in history” barring any additional revenue that will come throughout the rest of the year. The grand total outweighs the combined earnings of the world’s eight highest-paid musicians in 2015, including Swift, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry.
Jackson originally purchased his share for $47.5 million in 1985. Talk about a come up.
Rest In Peace Micheal Jackson
Michael Jackson Will Make More Money than Any Other Musician This Year
