Michael Jackson Estate Seeking Catalog Sale Worth Almost $1 Billion

The Michael Jackson estate is preparing to sell half its interests in the singer's catalog for $800 to $900 million.

The Michael Jackson estate is about to cash in on half the singer's catalog. On Tuesday (February 7), reports surfaced that Jackson's estate is nearing a deal in the $800 million-$900 million range to sell half the artist's publishing, recorded-music revenues, the MJ: The Musical Broadway show and the upcoming Michael biopic. While details are unclear, Sony Music is rumored to be a possible financial partner.

Currently owning a stake in Jackson's publishing is Primary Wave Music, which includes Jackson estate representatives, co-executors John Branca and John McClain. The company specializes in cultivating "brands" for both living and deceased artists, with their music being featured in TikTok campaigns, Broadway shows, films, television and more.

“We’re always working in conjunction with the artist or their estate—we’re creating a marketing plan that they sign off on, and then we go and get,” Primary Wave CEO Larry Mestel told Variety in 2021. “We’ve got 15 digital strategy people who do playlist pitching, website construction, ecommerce development, social media enhancement, we’ve got seven branding people. Our competitors, aside from the majors, are not built to do what we do.”

Sony Music was Jackson's record label throughout his solo career. In 1995, the label partnered with the singer to establish Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which also housed Jackson's share of The Beatles publishing. After Jackson's untimely death in 2009, Sony moved to acquire sole ownership of Sony/ATV — which was finalized in late 2019.