Sony Buys Catalog Shares Michael Jackson For 1.5 Billion US Dollars

Michael Jackson (Instagram @vikejackson)

JAKARTA - Sony Music Group bought half of Michael Jackson's catalog in an important deal.

According to Billboard, the company will spend at least 600 million US dollars on the shares in the publication of the late star and the master record catalog, where sources assess the total ranges from 1.2 billion US dollars to 1.5 billion US dollars. However, the exact figure is not yet known at this time.

If these figures are accurate, this deal is expected to be the largest artist's musical asset assessment ever.

Sony's deal with asset rights holder Michael Jackson is said to excluding royalties from MJ The Musical on Broadway and other theater productions featuring King Of Pop material.

However, it was reported, there were also songs from other artists from Jackson's Mijac publishing catalogs such as Sly & The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Ray Charles.

The deal, which Billboard said was completed by the end of 2023, surpassed the amount of 1.2 billion US dollars Queen is currently looking for for music recordings, publishing, and other revenue streams such as royalties from the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Nearly exactly a year ago, it was reported that asset rights holder Michael Jackson was close to reaching a big deal to sell half of his holdings in his catalog. Three independent sources claimed at the time that the film would be priced at 800-900 million US dollars.