By: Hunter Ding

Michael Jackson earned hundreds of millions of dollars as the creator of some of the biggest-selling albums of all time. He bought the Beatles’ song catalog for $47.5 million in 1985 and later sold it to Sony/ATV music for a 50 percent share in the company. (Sony later bought the estate’s share back for $750 million in 2016.) Jackson was renowned for his lavish lifestyle and spent money with abandon. He incurred millions of dollars in debt from his Neverland Ranch estate in Southern California and had a penchant for various luxury items, including jewelry and expensive art. When he died, he left behind a convoluted tangle of assets and liabilities.

When Jackson died in 2009, his debts and creditor’s claims were calculated to be more than $500 million, according to a court filing at the Los Angeles Courthouse by Jackson’s estate that provided details of his financial situation toward the end of his life. According to the filing, which was made in Los Angeles County Superior Court on June 21, 2024, $40 million was owed to the tour promoter A.E.G. In addition, over 65 creditors made claims against Jackson after his death, some even resulting in lawsuits. Some of his debt has been accumulating interest at extremely high rates.

A representative for the Jackson estate, which is executed by John Branca and John McClain, did not immediately provide comment upon request. The estate filed court papers as a request to authorize the payment of $3.5 million to a number of legal firms for their work in late 2018. In the filing, the executors say that they have eliminated all of the estate’s debt and almost all of the creditors’ claims have been resolved.

Image Credit by Israel Torre