Latest on MJJC

The 13 Top-Earning Dead Celebrities Of 2015

Bubs

Proud Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
7,856
Points
0
The 13 Top-Earning Dead Celebrities Of 2015

Zack O'Malley Greenburg

In the time since Michael Jackson died suddenly in 2009, the financial story that played out has been nothing short of a thriller. The King of Pop has earned more than $1 billion before taxes since then, enough to pay off his personal debts and then some.

This year Jackson again leads our Halloween-spooky list of the 13 top-earning dead celebrities, pulling in $115 million over the past year. The main drivers of his afterlife fortune: Vegas Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson One, the Mijac Music catalogue, recorded music sales and half of the Sony /ATV publishing empire.

“When a composer [or] a performer dies, that’s it,” says Josh Rubenstein, National Chair of Trusts and Estates at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. “It’s no more … once they’re dead and there can’t be anymore [work], all of the sudden everybody comes in and says, ‘Oh, we’ve got to get this guy.’”

Next on the list is Elvis Presley, holding steady at $55 million. The King of Rock n’ Roll doesn’t rule the realm of postmortem cash, but he’s making more than most living stars thanks largely to Graceland ticket sales. In August he earned his 53rd Top 40 album with Elvis Presley Forever, a compilation released by the U.S. Postal Service along with a commemorative stam

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz ranks third with $40 million, much of it from his cut of licensing revenue from the popular comic. Charlie Brown and Co. are now hitting the big screen in a 3-D flick, The Peanuts Movie, out in November 2015.

“The marketing of the film … is boosting awareness for the Peanuts brand,” says Steven Marotta, an analyst at C.L. King & Associates who tracks Iconix, Peanuts’ parent company. “That, coupled with their international sway–about two thirds of Peanuts revenue comes from overseas–means Peanuts is set to grow.”

Bob Marley ($21 million) and Elizabeth Taylor ($20 million) round out the top five. In death, Marley is becoming quite the businessman with his Marley Beverage company (home to Marley’s Mellow Mood) and House of Marley (maker of eco-friendly audio and lifestyle products). Taylor remains the titan of a celebrity fragrance business that includes White Diamonds, which launched in 24 years ago and continues to sell.

Other notables include actor Paul Walker, who banked $10.5 million on the success of Furious 7–which grossed $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the franchise’s biggest intake to date. Albert Einstein earned $11 million, thanks to branded merchandise including apparel, posters and tablets designed by Israeli tech company Fourier Systems.

“Einstein has a very large cult-like following fro the nerd-science community,” says Kevin Connelly, Director of Rights Representation at Corbis Entertainment, which represents Einstein.

Though there are only 13 names on our Top-Earning Dead Celebrities List, plenty of others are pulling in millions beyond the grave. Among those closest to making the cut: Frank Sinatra, Bruce Lee, Joan Rivers, George Harrison, Richard Rogers, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Kurt Cobain.

In order to compile this year’s list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities, we looked at pretax earnings from October 1st, 2014 through October 1st, 2015. We included income from record sales, music publishing, film residuals, licensing and other ventures. Our sources include lawyers, managers and agents connected to key celebrity estates.

Michael Jackson’s list-leading total of $115 million marks an 18% drop from last year’s $140 million figure. The shift is largely due to the conclusion of the Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour, which grossed over $350 million in its three-year run.

But Jackson could be in line for an even bigger payday: Sony is exploring a sale of its half of Sony/ATV, the catalogue it shares with the singer’s estate. Though the Jackson estate has stated its intention to buy out Sony, a big spender could theoretically come in and buy out both sides.

Sony/ATV, which holds the songwriting copyrights of acts from Taylor Swift to the Beatles, is worth an estimated $2 billion–and a sale of the whole company would result in another stratospheric haul for Jackson. At this point, that might just feel like “Human Nature.”

The Dead Celebrities package is edited by Zack O’Malley Greenburg and Natalie Robehmed

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackoma...he-13-top-earning-dead-celebrities-of-2015/2/
 
Michael Jackson Tops $1 Billion In Postmortem Earnings
Zack O'Malley Greenburg

Michael Jackson pulled in $115 million over the past year, enough to easily earn the top spot on this year’s Halloween-spooky list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities. But it’s his total postmortem haul that’s reaching scary proportions: Jackson has now earned more than $1 billion pretax since his death.

While alive, Jackson earned a total of $1.1 billion in his solo career, as tallied in my book Michael Jackson, Inc. He’s now within moonwalking distance of matching that total in the afterlife, though it’s worth noting that the aforementioned $1.1 billion figure swells to $1.9 billion when adjusted for inflation.

“The cash flow on an annual basis is tremendous,” explained veteran entertainment attorney Donald David to me in an interview published in the book. “Sure, it’s going to decline eventually, but it’s going to be a huge amount in the foreseeable future. [Jackson's] kids are going to have grandkids before that money’s gone.”

Since 2009, Jackson has handily out-earned not only every dead celebrity from Elvis to Einstein, but he’s pulled in more than any living solo musician. Much of that cash has come from two Cirque du Soleil shows, his own music and publishing revenues, and his half of the Sony/ATV publishing catalogue.

The latter could result in another windfall for Jackson: earlier this month, Sony initiated a sale process that could lead to the sale of its half of the catalogue to an outside bidder, or the whole entity, if Jackson’s estate decides to sell. It’s also possible that one side will buy out the other.

Said estate co-executor John Branca: “We intend to buy the company.”

Either way, look for the frighteningly high earnings to continue for the foreseeable future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackoma...ackson-tops-1-billion-in-postmortem-earnings/
 
Here are the top 13 celebrities on the Forbes list:


1. Michael Jackson: 115 million dollars (£75 million)
2. Elvis Presley: 55 million dollars (£35.8 million)
3. Charles Schulz: 40 million dollars (£26 million)
4. Bob Marley: 21 million dollars (£13.7 million)
5. Elizabeth Taylor: 20 million dollars (£13 million)
6. Marilyn Monroe: 17 million dollars (£11 million)
7. John Lennon: 12 million dollars (£7.8 million)
8. Albert Einstein: 11 million dollars (£7.1 million)
9. Paul Walker: 10.5 million dollars (£6.8 million)
10. Bettie Page: 10 million dollars (£6.5 million)
11. Theodor Geisel: 9.5 million dollars (£6.1 million)
12. Steve McQueen: 9 million dollars (£5.8 million)
13. James Dean: 8.5 million dollars (£5.5 million)
 
These figures that Michael earned from his solo career are incredible. Hard to wrap my mind around these dollar figures.
 
https://twitter.com/elke_hassell

To all the Comparers, Doubters, Haters, the "next Michael Jackson Gangs", the Boycotters, "I am TOP EARNING again"
giphy.gif
 
Its good to read and "know" that the other readers (awa haters) can see the billion dollar reports, you know what I mean..., the readers can read how massive Michael Jackson is years after his death earning billions of dollars.

Its, I think, for the first time we (as fans) can be confronted directly throughout the media reports with some kind of resurrection and exonaration of MJs financial matters..., his last world tour (HIStory) is almost forgotten for non-fans and many think it was a financial disaster although there was a (huge) corruption thing and vastly overvalued financial expenses in comparison to a technical, financial and logistic running of the tour (in comparison to other music acts like U2, Rolling Stones and others and their mega world tours aka mega stages), it generated more than 160 million dollars in 1996-97.

Everything else was somehow ... wrong after 2000s.

despite of that... Michael Jackson was the money machine for everybody involved in his life... and he still is... billion here... billion there... :punk:
 
The only thing I found stranger than people's obsession with Michael's private life has been their fixation with his finances. For me, that has got to be most boring and uninteresting part of it all. I've never been impressed by the huge amounts, not everrr nor have I been phased by all the talk of debts and financial meltdowns along the years. Whenever that kind of thing would pop up, especially the last decade before 2009, I would just think - he knows what he's doing, things aren't anywhere near as bad as they make them out to be. I think everything will be fine. And from what I recall, Forbes magazine was one of the publications which enjoyed speculating a bit too much about his declining finances. However petty it may be, I must confess that it is slightly interesting to see them forced to change their tune. But that is truly trivial because in the truly grand scheme there may be far more important things in this life and on this earth than to prove Forbes magazine wrong.

SheilaMJFan4Ever said:
It's not a list I'd want to see him on, but glad he's on top.
Click to expand...

Indeed, it is more than sad to see his name on that list. Isn't it dreadful to think that June 25th is the best thing that happened to his finances? I'm sure anyone who truly cared about Michael's happiness would have preferred to have him deal with these issues while alive. Anyone who truly loved him wouldn't care about the size of his account.

It is nice to think that now people care enough to spend their hard earned money on official merchandise and events, but I think it would have been so much better if they had shown this consideration and interest while he was still walking this earth. And beyond all of the monetary investment, I think even more important is the care and understanding which now people seem to be able to give him more freely. I wonder what it says about us, as a human race, that folks have got to die in order to be appreciated and cherished..........
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top