Michael Jackson estate wins ruling on $600million Sony sale – despite mother’s objections

A California appeals court has ruled that Michael Jackson‘s estate can continue with its sale of the late musician’s catalogue to Sony Music.

The ruling rejected Jackson’s mother – Katherine’s – objections which aimed to stop the sale from going forward. It came a month after the court had issued a tentative ruling against her and finalized that decision yesterday (August 21) ruling that Jackson’s estate executors – John Branca and John McClain did not violate the King Of Pop’s terms while making the deal with Sony.

“The will gave the executors broad powers of sale, with no exception for the specific assets at issue in this case,” the court wrote (per The Hollywood Reporter). “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.”

Earlier this year, Billboard reported that the Jackson estate and Sony Music had reached a deal in which the music giant would be able to purchase half of the ‘Thriller’ singer’s publishing and recorded masters catalogue for over $600million.

The then-confidential deal was taken to Judge Mitchell Beckloff for approval due to the estate being pending before a Los Angeles probate court over 15 years after Jackson died in 2009.

His mother filed objections, sharing that the sale had “violated Michael’s wishes”, adding that the catalogue would likely continue to increase value over time if retained.

Beckloff went on to reject Katherine’s objections in 2023 and ruled that the deal between the estate and the music giant could proceed. This week’s ruling was in result of Katherine’s filed appeal.

“The proposed transaction is not a gift or distribution of estate assets—it is an asset sale, pursuant to which the estate receives a significant monetary payment and interest in a joint venture,” the court wrote. “While the proposed transaction will result in the estate exchanging assets for cash and other valuable rights, it neither diminishes the estate’s value nor impairs the executors’ future ability to transfer the estate’s assets to the trust.”

Earlier this year, Jackson’s son Bigi – also known as Blanket – challenged his grandmother in court in an attempt to stop her from using the estate’s money to fund her efforts to block the Sony deal.

The deal is expected to be the biggest-ever valuation of an artist’s music assets, with sources valuing it at between $1.2billion and $1.5billion in total (£950million – £1.19billion).

Back in June, it was revealed that the King Of Pop had died with over $500million (£395million) worth of debt.

In a document filed on June 21 by executors of his estate, The King of Pop – who died in June 2009 from a heart attack – was apparently dealing with a staggering $500million in “debt and creditors’ claims, with some of the debt accruing interest at extremely high interest rates, and some debt in default”.

Filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the document showed that Jackson had more than 65 claims made against him by creditors, which sparked further litigation. Executors wrote in the filing that they did settle these claims or had otherwise resolved them.

It was previously reported in 2013 that the singer was £250million in debt at the time of his death, which was revealed by a forensic accountant in wrongful death trial Jackson’s mother Katherine has filed against concert promoters AEG Live.

In other news, footage of Drake rehearsing a cover of Jackson‘s ‘Rock With You’ has been unearthed in his 100gigs.org collection.

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