So now that Michael Jackson got acquitted, his troubles are just beginning. The guy is in debt up to his eyeballs and he hasn’t made a dent on the pop charts in quite some time. People expect he’s going to have to sell off some assets to get back in the black.
I heard that Jackson only owns half of the rights of the Beatles catalogue and Sony owns the other half. McCartney strikes me as the type who would go after 'em. And whereas Sir Paul is reportedly one of the most wealthy musicians around, does even he have the scratch to meet the starting bid?
I think that not only will Paul try to get the catalog back, I think that he’ll make a low ball offer. IIRC, Paul isn’t to happy that MJ bought the catalog to begin with.
Yes, he’s a billionaire. But I don’t see Paul getting involved. It sounds to me like Jackson used his share of the music catalogyes as collateral on a $200 million loan he’s going to have trouble paying back. So if he can’t pay, Bank of America owns them.
Easily solved. Macca pays Jacko enough cash to pay off the loan, plus some substantial gratuity on top. Presto, the lien on the catalog goes away, and Macca gets the whole shebang.
There was talk that McCartney, Yoko, the Widow Harrison, and Ringo would get together to buy them. Or at least Paul and Yoko (the other two are way behind in cash).
I’ll bet that the deal will be structured as a loan with the catalog itself used as collateral. The catalog makes enough money back to pay for the loan with interest and whoever buys it isn’t out a penny.
In reality, I seriously doubt that McCartney will be willing to shell out the cash necessary to repurchase the Beatles publishing catalog. Those rights are far more valuable to a well-heeled business (i.e., Sony) with no qualms about exploiting them for their maximum dollar value. To match such a price, McCartney would have to place a giant premium on what he would pay for the rights, simply for the sake of taking the songs (though not the performances) out of advertising/movie/broadcast/whatever circulation. He’d be a fool to do it, but god bless him if he does.
Paul already makes a ton of money from that catalog as one of the main writers of the material. Minty Green is correct to say that he would make a lot less owning it. He’d probably be less likely to license it to a dog food commercial…
McCartney tried to buy them with Yoko Ono at auction when Jackson bought them. Apparently McCartney told Jackson that music rights were a good investment, he didn’t expect Jackson to buy the Beatles stuff though, and was seriously pissed off when a song was put in an advert.
> There was talk that McCartney, Yoko, the Widow Harrison, and Ringo would get
> together to buy them. Or at least Paul and Yoko (the other two are way behind
> in cash).
Do you have a cite for the relative wealth of McCartney, Ringo, the Lennon estate, and the Harrison estate? Years ago I read that McCartney was (of course) the richest of them by far and Lennon was the poorest. (Of course, poor is relative. I only mean that he or his estate was worth about a tenth of McCartney’s.) Do you have a cite the relative values of the estates?
I’ve heard the catalog is worth about $700 million. If Jackson put them up as collateral for $200 in loans, then, if he has to sell it, isn’t he still $500 million in the clear?
I don’t have any cites, but my understanding is that, owing to some shrewd investments and management by Yoko, John’s estate was worth a good couple hundred million by the time of his death.
Yeah, but only if he can actually get that. Typically the way it works is that the creditor can force the collateral property to be sold at auction. If the property doesn’t cover the loan, the balance is still outstanding, but no longer secured by collateral. If the auction exceeds the loan amount (or rather, the amount due, which won’t be the same), then the debt is erased, the creditor takes his $$, and the debtor retains the excess. But ultiamtely, there is an actual auction of the property, and if there’s no one bidding that day for $700M, c’est la vie, even if there is someone who would be willing to pay $700M under different circumstances. (E.g., if that potential buyer’s $$ is tied up in other investments when the auction happens.)
Just to name a few:
A Day In The Life – Time Warner
A Hard Day’s Night - Sominex
A Taste Of Honey – Golden Blossom
Back In The USSR – Aeroflot
Bad Boy - Suzuki
Birthday – Chuck E Cheese
Boys – Catholic Charities
Carry That Weight – Bally’s
Do You Want To Know A Secret - Procter & Gamble
Doctor Robert – The Atkins Diet
Drive My Car – General Motors
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Fixing A Hole – US Gypsum
Good Morning, Good Morning – The Today Show
Happiness Is A Warm Gun – Smith & Wesson
Hello, Goodbye - MCI
I Feel Fine – Blue Cross / Blue Shield
I Want To Tell You - Sprint
I’m Looking Through You – Bausch & Lomb
I’m Only Sleeping – Tempur Pedic
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - DeBeers
Matchbox - Mattel
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer – Stanley Tools
Mean Mr Mustard – Gulden’s
Money (That’s What I Want) – Charles Schwab
Paperback Writer – Barnes & Noble
Piggies – Oscar Meyer
Please Mr Postman - USPS
Run For Your Life - Adidas
Sargeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band § With A Little Help From My Friends
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Dr Pepper
She’s Leaving Home – Atlas Van Lines
Sun King – Coppertone
The Fool On The Hill – McCain For President 2008
Yellow Submarine - Subway
You Never Give Me Your Money – MastercardAnd I can’t see any of those even pissing off Bill O’Reilly
