A California appeals court has given a final green light to Michael Jackson’s estate to proceed with a sale of the music legend’s catalog to Sony Music valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The decision overturns objections raised by Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, who argued that the sale of the estate’s “single most valuable asset” violated her son’s wishes.
The court’s final ruling, issued on Wednesday (August 21), supports a preliminary rulinghanded down on July 17. Katherine Jackson had claimed that the sale was not in her son’s best interest and that the catalog’s value would continue to rise. However, the court determined that the executors of Jackson’s estate had the authority to proceed with the sale under the terms of his will.
“The will gave the executors broad powers of sale, with no exception for the specific assets at issue in this case,” the court said. “As such, the probate court did not err in concluding that it was Michael’s intent to allow the executors to sell any estate assets, including those at issue in the proposed transaction.”
“THE PROBATE COURT DID NOT ERR IN CONCLUDING THAT IT WAS MICHAEL’S INTENT TO ALLOW THE EXECUTORS TO SELL ANY ESTATE ASSETS, INCLUDING THOSE AT ISSUE IN THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.”
CALIFORNIA’S SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
The court also noted that Katherine Jackson “forfeited her contention that the proposed transaction violates the terms of Michael’s will” by failing to raise them in the initial probate proceedings.
The sale, first reported in February, will see Sony Music acquiring 50% of Jackson’s publishing and recorded masters catalog. MBW understands that the deal valued the Jackson estate’s music rights at around $1.5 billion, implying a sale price of around $750 million for the transaction. If confirmed, that would top the GBP £1 billion (USD $1.31 billion) at which Queen‘s catalog was valued in its recent sale, also to Sony Music.
