By: Cynthia He

Court files claim Michael Jackson owed hundreds of millions of dollars at the time of his death in 2009.

When Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 in June 2009, despite his fame from his music, he was deep in debt.

It started as early as 1993, when Michael Jackson already owed 30 million dollars. In 1998, his debt grew to 140 million dollars and continued to accumulate until 2001. From 2001 until his death, his debt increased by 170 million dollars. By 2009, he owed more than 500 million dollars to over 65 creditors, many of his debts growing with high interest rates.

In 1985, Jackson bought multiple songs from the Beatles for 47.5 million dollars. Later he sold all of them to Sony for half of the shares of the company. But in 2016, Sony paid 750 million dollars to buy back the shares.

Michael Jackson received millions of dollars from his songs and concerts from the 1980s to the 1990s. But he would always spend more than he earned.

Of the 500 million dollars, 40 million dollars was owed to the Anschutz Entertainment Group. Michael Jackson died 18 days before he was about to go on his “This Is It” tour. This tour, promoted by The Anschutz Entertainment Group, consisted of 50 concerts in an arena in London.

During the wrongful-death trial in August 2013, William R. Ackerman testified as a witness on the side of Anschutz Entertainment Group with details of Michael Jackson’s spendings.

“He spent a lot of money on jewelry,” Ackerman said. “He was tapped out.”

After his death, Michael Jackson’s debts were left to the rest of his family. Adding on, the Internal Revenue Service is now claiming that Michael Jackson’s estate undervalued their assets and owes “an additional $700 million in taxes and penalties.”

New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/arts/michael-jackson-debt.html

Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-michael-jackson-debt-20130812-story.html