A $600 million deal to sell Michael Jackson’s catalog to music superpower Sony has been approved by the court, overruling Katherine Jackson’s objections.
A California appeals court sided with Michael Jackson’s estate, allowing Sony Music to purchase the late singer’s catalog for $600 million. Despite Katherine Jackson, his mother,’s objections that the sale was against Jackson’s wishes, this decision was made.
However, the court determined that the sale was authorized by Jackson’s executors, John Branca and John McClain, in accordance with the extremely broad powers outlined in his will.
The court noted in its final decision, which it issued following an earlier tentative ruling against Katherine’s objections, that the will of Jackson gave the executors the authority to sell estate assets, including those in this deal with Sony.
According to Billboard, the court rejected Katherine’s appeal on procedural grounds because she had not presented her arguments to a lower probate court.
The lawyers for Katherine Jackson have not commented on the decision made by this appellate court.
“The will gave the executors broad powers of sale, with no exception for the specific assets at issue in this case. As such, [a lower judge] 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.”
In 2022, Sony Music was first mentioned as having plans to acquire half of Michael Jackson’s catalog in a deal worth more than $600 million. A Los Angeles probate court has been handling the singer’s estate ever since he passed away in 2009, which was more than 15 years ago.
As a consequence of this, trustees John Branca and John McClain, the estate’s representatives, forced Judge Mitchell Beckloff to authorize the undisclosed agreement.
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Because of the potential for price increases if the assets were held for a longer period of time, Katherine Jackson argued that the sale was not in accordance with Michael’s wishes. She claimed that since none of the King of Pop’s assets could be given to his heirs, this sale would break basic inheritance rules.
However, Katherine’s argument was rejected by Judge Beckloff in April 2023, allowing the sale to proceed. After that, Katherine filed a second appeal, which resulted in the decision made yesterday reiterating that “the executors have full power and authority.”
In addition, the court noted that the transaction was an asset sale that maintained the estate’s overall value while yielding a substantial cash income.
Tensions among Michael Jackson’s heirs have been made public by this legal dispute. For example, Blanket Jackson, Jackson’s son, asked the court this year to prevent Katherine from using money from Michael’s trust fund for her lawsuit against Sony.
Differing at first with the deal, Cover and his different kin later acknowledged the probate judge’s decision.
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