As you may recall, last October Sony triggered the “buy-sell” clause in the partnership agreement which provides for one partner to buy out the share of the other at the highest possible price. As has now been announced, the Estate and Sony have signed a memorandum of understanding for Sony to purchase the Estate’s interest in Sony/ATV. A copy of the official press release is also being sent to you. In the intervening months, we explored several options that would have positioned the Estate as the buyer, rather than Sony, and we had substantial interest from potential partners to work with us in doing so. Ultimately, however, Sony’s offer was in the best interest of Michael’s children and we made the difficult decision to accept that offer. The arrangements will further secure the financial future of Michael’s heirs. The amount that Sony is paying, $750 million, is a substantial premium on the Estate’s interest in the company after taking into account the debt of the company, the Purchase Option and other adjustments required under the partnership agreement. It is also a huge testament to Michael’s business acumen that his original investment appreciated so substantially over the last 30 years.


There are several reasons that led to our decision. We will use a portion of the proceeds to repay the loan balance on monies borrowed by Michael and secured by his interest in Sony/ATV which means that after starting with more than $500 million in debt seven years ago, the Estate is now completely debt free with substantial assets in cash and other property. The balance of the proceeds from this sale, after taxes, fees and expenses, will be held by the Estate and ultimately will be transferred to a trust for the benefit of Michael’s beneficiaries. Furthermore, the transaction allows the Estate to diversify assets which, to date, have been highly concentrated in music intellectual property.

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Statement from MJ Estate:

You will soon be reading news reports stating that Colony Capital has decided to sell Neverland. As the property manager, they have the right to do this. The Estate has issued the following statement in response to a media request for comment:

We are saddened at the prospect of the sale of Neverland which, under the agreement negotiated during Michael's lifetime, Colony has the right to sell. The Estate will maintain Michael's family home in Encino, including its iconic recording studio there. We continue to build upon Michael's legacy as an artistic genius and humanitarian through his music and new projects such as the Michael Jackson ONE show in Las Vegas. We hope and trust that any new owners of Neverland will respect the historical importance and special nature of this wonderful property. Michael's memory lives on in the hearts of his fans worldwide.

It is also important to the Estate that Michael's fans understand that although the Estate has no right to stop or obstruct the sale, The Estate did explore a number of potential options for Neverland with Colony but zoning, financial and land use restrictions limited the alternatives and ultimately Colony made the decision to sell.

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™

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From The Estate of Michael Jackson: Hello MJ Fam:
 
It has been a whirlwind few weeks and we wanted to share some more good news with you. In the six days since the video of the virtual MJ dancing to "Slave To The Rhythm" was uploaded to VEVO, it has been viewed more than 10 million times and that number is continuing to grow steadily. The performance gave the Billboard Music Awards its highest ratings in 13 years, and the response in the general public has been overwhelmingly positive – if you look at the VEVO post, you can see that the likes outweigh the dislikes 10 to 1!!!! This tells us it is a major success w/the general public which, after all, is what we all want – for the rest of the world to see and love Michael the way that we all do.  The efforts of the last few weeks, and especially, the performance on the Billboard Awards is working!