The King of Pop stands to make a mint- even
after his death. The Michael Jackson estate is poised to reap massive benefits
in royalties from the pop sensation’s last film “This is It,” a video game
based on the star, memorabilia and a re-released autobiography.
On top of that, there’s the deal the estate recently signed with Sony Music which will put out previously un-released songs- a deal slated to bring the estate some 200 to $250million.
Donald David- the lawyer in charge of handling the estate (who also
dealt with the estate belonging to Tupac Shakur) told Forbes that he estimates
that the revenue from these ventures and more stands to be the stuff of legend:
“The cash flow on an annual basis is tremendous. Sure, it's going to decline
eventually, but it's going to be a huge amount in the foreseeable future.
[Jackson's] kids are going to have grandkids before that money's gone."
While
much of the money that’s come in already has gone towards the $500million debt
that Michael had run up before he passed away, there should still be plenty
more where that came from. The estate has earned roughly $160million -
$50million of which came from the rights to Jackson’s music, which the estate
still owns.
The upcoming post-mortem new releases that are scheduled to be put out will include collaborations with other artists as well, which should add even more weight to an already weighty legacy. If one still has doubts, Forbes also reports that Jackson has earned more than Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Madonna and Beyonce combined- this year. Now that’s something.
