Sony and Jackson Estate Sign Definitive Agreement
Sony Corporation (“Sony”) and the Estate of Michael Jackson (“the Estate”) announced that Sony Corporation of America (“SCA”), Sony’s wholly owned subsidiary, signed a definitive agreement with the Estate to obtain full ownership of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC (“Sony/ATV”) by acquiring the 50% interest in Sony/ATV held by the Estate. This action follows the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding, which occurred on March 14, 2016.
The closing of the transaction is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. This transaction had no material impact on Sony’s consolidated results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. Sony is currently evaluating the impact on its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017.
The Estate noted that the transaction will not affect its continuing substantial interests in other music assets, including all of Michael Jackson’s master recordings as well as Mijac Music, the publishing company that owns all of the songs written by Michael Jackson as well as songs by some of his favorite songwriters and artists that were acquired by Michael during his life. In addition, the Estate will also retain its ownership interest in EMI Music Publishing.
Following in Michael’s footsteps, the Estate of Michael Jackson continues to produce artistically exceptional and enormously successful ventures. “Michael Jackson’s This is It” became the highest grossing music documentary of all time. A history making touring show produced in partnership with Cirque du Soleil, Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour, played 4 continents, 157 cities, was seen by 3.7 million fans and became the #8 top grossing tour of all time. The second venture between the Estate and Cirque du Soleil, the critically acclaimed Michael Jackson ONE, a permanent show at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, gave Cirque its biggest opening ever in Las Vegas and continues to be one of the top shows in the city. In 2014, The Estate astounded the world with the technical wizardry of a ‘virtual Michael Jackson‘ performance during the Billboard Music Awards, which gave the show its biggest ratings in years and became the topic of conversation worldwide.
That same year, Xscape, the second posthumous release of previously unreleased music by Michael Jackson, was released and became one of the top selling albums of 2014. Late last year, Thriller became the first album in RIAA Gold & Platinum Program history to be certified 30X multi-Platinum for U.S. sales, continuing The King of Pop’s reign as the biggest selling artist of all time with worldwide sales of over 100 million for Thriller and 1 billion overall. Earlier this year, the Estate released the documentary Michael Jackson‘s Journey From Motown To Off The Wall, directed by Spike Lee. The documentary made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016, and its subsequent broadcast on Showtime® became the channel’s highest rated music documentary of all time and its second highest rated documentary ever.
