28.06.2010 

By Our Staff Writer

Michael Jackson, the so-called “King of Pop” who died on the 25^th of June 2009 aged 50, must be smiling in his grave.  Jackson’s estate has made more than $1bn since his death a year ago, according to estimates by trade paper Billboard.  The magazine says Jackson’s album sales have generated about $383m, while revenue from the film This Is It has hit nearly $400m.  Profits from publishing rights, licensing and touring are also included in the total.

A new recording contract is estimated to have made $31m so far.  The Sony Music Entertainment deal will see 10 albums of the late singer’s music released over the next seven years, including one of previously unreleased material.  The estate is guaranteed between $200m and $250m for the deal but Billboard believes approximately $31m of this will have been paid in the last 12 months.

Despite the fact that the This Is It tour never getting off the ground, revenue from tickets retained by fans as souvenirs and not refunded brought in about $6.5m, with merchandise raking in $5m, although concert promoter AEG has a cut of these profits.  Jackson’s music publishing company, Mijac, currently has a value of around $150m according to Billboard.  The magazine said Mijac could have generated as much as $50m in the last year.  Jackson’s estate also owns half of music publishing company, Sony/ATV.

Barry Massarsky of Massarsky Consulting estimated that Jackson’s share of Sony/ATV’s revenue is $80m a year.  Other profits have come from DVD sales and rentals, downloads, royalties and ringtones.