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Michael Jackson Estate Nearing Music-Catalog Sale Worth $800-$900 Million
The Michael Jackson estate is in the process of selling half of its interests in the legendary singer’s music catalog in a deal in the $800 million-$900 million range, three sources confirm to Variety. While details are unclear, sources say that Sony and a possible financial partner are negotiating to acquire 50% of the estate’s interests in Jackson’s publishing, recorded-music revenues, the “MJ: The Musical” Broadway show, and the upcoming biopic “Michael,” and possibly more assets.
The package would be the biggest deal to date in the still-booming music catalog market.
A financial source tells Variety that Primary Wave Music already owns a stake in Jackson’s publishing catalog, although details are unclear.
Reps for the Jackson estate, co-executors John Branca and John McClain, Sony, and Primary Wave declined Variety’s multiple requests for comment.
Sony has been involved in some of the biggest previous known catalog deals: It acquired Bruce Springsteen’s publishing and recorded-music catalogs for a combined price source said was around $600 million. Sources say the company also paid $150 million-$200 million for Bob Dylan’s rights to his recorded-music catalog, after seeing the legendary songwriter sell the rights to his publishing to Universal Music for nearly $400 million. Such blockbuster deals have become routine in recent years — the three core members of Genesis sold a catalog package to Concord for $300 million — but if the information is accurate, the Jackson deal is the biggest to date by far.
Sources would not confirm the financial partner in the deal, and it remains unclear whether one is definitely involved, but likely suspects would include Eldridge Industries, which partnered with Sony on the blockbuster Springsteen catalog deal and also acquired the Killers’ pre-2020 publishing catalog, and Shamrock, which recently partnered with Universal on a $200 million-plus catalog acquisition from Dr. Dre and in 2020 acquired the rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums from a consortium led by Scooter Braun.
Sony and its predecessor CBS were the sole home for Jackson’s recorded-music catalog for his entire solo career and the latter years of his career with the Jackson 5. The singer died in 2009 at the age of 50; the formidable entertainment interests of his estate have been handled with a firm hand by Branca, his longtime attorney, and co-executor John McClain.
Jackson’s recorded-music catalog is one of most lucrative in history — his 1982 “Thriller” album alone is one of the two biggest sellers of all time and was the first album to be certified 30-times platinum, although such figures have become muddled in the streaming age.
In 2016 Sony Corp. reached an agreement with the estate to acquire the estate’s 50% stake in their joint venture, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, for $750 million. The following year the company revealed in an earnings report that as part of its $2.3 billion acquisition of EMI Music Publishing from a consortium led by private equity firm Mubadala., Sony had acquired the Jackson estate’s 25.1% stake in EMI for $287.5 million. At the end of that years-long process, EMI and Sony/ATV were fully owned by Sony, making it sole owner of the world’s largest music publishing company.
Source: variety
HOUSTON PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT TO MANAGE PRAIRIE HABITAT AT SYLVAN RODRIGUEZ PARK WITH PRESCRIBED BURN
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Driver Who Killed Two Uber Passengers in Crash Sentenced to 50 years
A California man convicted of two counts of murder and crashing into an Uber vehicle while leading police on a chase and killing two passengers in 2020 has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.
“This is a man with a long criminal history, and he finally did the horrible thing that we worry about when someone continually commits crimes,” Ogg said. “These two young women, who were being responsible by using a rideshare service instead of driving, should have been safe riding home — they should still be alive.”
Brian Tatum, 47, was found guilty on Thursday of the murders of Priscilla DeLeon and Diana Salazar in the 351stDistrict Court. On Monday, Tatum agreed to a punishment of 50 years in prison.
Tatum was driving a white Acura RDX when police tried to pull him over for a traffic stop in northeast Houston around 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2020. Tatum fled from police and drove about two miles. He was driving about 100 mph in a 35 mph zone when he T-boned a silver Honda Accord being driven by an Uber driver at the intersection of Jensen and Parker.
The force of the crash split the Honda in half, killing the passengers, Priscilla DeLeon, a 25-year-old graduate of Texas A&M University, and her cousin, Diana Salazar, a 24-year-old graduate of the University of Houston.
A Harris County jury convicted Tatum after a weeklong trial. Jurors deliberated just 39 minutes. Tatum was facing a sentence ranging from 25 years to life in prison based on his criminal history. Instead of letting jurors or a judge decide his punishment, he agreed to 50 years in prison, which he cannot appeal. He has to serve at least 25 years before he is eligible for parole.
Assistant District Attorney Kelly Marshall, who prosecuted the case with ADA Cameron Gonzales, said Tatum was born in Houston and moved to California where he had been convicted of several felonies, including evading arrest.
“He repeatedly fled from police, and it was only a matter of time before he killed someone,” Marshall said. “Unfortunately, he killed two wonderful and smart young women who were cousins and had an amazing family.”
After the verdict and plea agreement, more than two dozen family members who sat through the entire trial wearing buttons with a photo of both victims gathered just outside the courtroom to show solidarity. The mothers of the two victims stood together and sobbed as family and friends tried to comfort them.
Sean Teare, chief of the District Attorney’s Office’s Vehicular Crimes Division, noted that Tatum was being pulled over by deputy with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, but the crash was handled by the Houston Police Department.
“The vehicular crimes divisions of both of those agencies had to work this case together, and this outcome is a perfect example of interagency cooperation, along with the District Attorney’s Office,” Teare said. “We were all out there that night, and now this family can start to heal, knowing that this man will probably never get out of prison.”
Teare said a case like this offers a simple lesson: If you see police lights behind you, just stop. It’s most likely a traffic violation.
“But if you run and do something like this,” Teare said, “you may never get out of prison.”
FUGITIVE MICAH DELOACH WANTED FOR INJURY TO A CHILD
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Former Harris County Jailer Charged With Manslaughter in Inmate Death
A former detention officer at the Harris County Jail was indicted Thursday and charged with felony manslaughter in the February 2021 death of a jail inmate, the first time criminal charges have been filed against a detention officer in an in-custody end at the jail.
Eric Niles Morales, 28, of Houston, is charged in the death of Jaquaree Simmons, a 23-year-old Houston man found unconscious in his cell during Winter Storm Uri on Feb. 17, 2021. A Harris County medical examiner ruled that Simmons died of blunt-force trauma to his head. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez fired 11 detention officers and suspended six others in the wake of the investigation. Morales is the only one charged with the death.
Investigators said Simmons was arrested and booked into the jail on Feb. 10, 2021, on a charge of a felon possessing a weapon. Six days later, investigators said, Simmons used his clothes to clog his cell toilet, which caused it to overflow and flood his cell. Detention officers responded to Simmons’ cell to clean up the mess, which led to a physical confrontation between Simmons and detention officers.
Simmons was then left in the cell without clothing, which sheriff’s officials said was a violation of jail policy. When detention officers returned to the cell later that night, Simmons reportedly threw his meal tray at an officer and “charged at him,” according to the sheriff’s office. The officer then punched Simmons in the face and called for assistance to remove Simmons for a medical evaluation. Detention officers again used force in handcuffing and removing Simmons from the cell. It was in that confrontation that Simmons received “multiple blows to his head,” according to the sheriff’s office. Simmons received a medical evaluation and was later returned to his cell, where he was left unmonitored because of a power outage related to the winter storm and the failure of detention officers to conduct visual checks as required.
Simmons was found unresponsive and lying on his cell floor the next day and later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The indictment charges that the 6’5”, 260-pound detention officer assaulted the 5’4”, 120-pound Simmons by kneeing him in the head, striking his head against a door, and dropping him on his head, resulting in his death.
Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Clark, of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division, said county residents expect detention officers to treat inmates fairly and humanely.
“Regardless of why they are in the jail, inmates should be safe from unlawful attacks by the very people who are sworn to protect them and keep them secure,” Clark said. “Harris County will prosecute those who break the law inside the jail, regardless of which side of the bars they are on.”
CITY OF HOUSTON AWARDED FEDERAL SAFE STREETS AND ROADS FOR ALL (SS4A) GRANT FOR BISSONNET CORRIDOR PROJECT
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