In 1997 David Bowie was named Britain’s wealthiest rock star, with a net worth of over $900 million (link) When he died it was “only” $100 million. Where did it all go?
I would first be inclined to question the accuracy of the information in the old article you link to. How did Business Age come to calculate the net worth of Bowie, Sir Paul, Sir Mick, Tom Jones, etc.?
The $100 million is official record. I would start there.
Maybe he bought lunch for his family at a Vail Resort.
IRC David Bowie actually sold shares in his career
Bowie: The Man Who Sold Royalties and Brought Music to Bonds
He was a super-star in his day but not a billion dollar superstar. $ 100 million is lot more believable for his net worth.
In his later years, he bought a lot of DLC. Mostly WoW hats.
The Bowie bonds were repaid in 2007, so the $55 million raised went back to the investors who had bought them. Bowie had used the money to buy back the rights to some more of his songs.
As a high net worth individual, and by all accounts a pretty smart one at that, Bowie almost certainly had estate planning advice, and probably had transferred many of his personal assets into trusts and the like long before his death to minimise any inheritance tax payable on his estate. So I’d guess a large part of the $900 million (or whatever the true figure may have been) went to one or more Bowie trusts or even directly to his spouse and children.