Unimaginably to be rich when you're dead. That's what happened to Michael Jackson, when all his wealth accumulated and cover his financial bankruptcy all at once. And that made him the richest dead celebrity in the world.
Jackson's music and "This Is It" documentary have been so lucrative that he outearned the combined hauls of megastars Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Madonna and Jay-Z. Not only that, but Jackson also outpaced the combined earnings of all of the other late celebs on the list.
How did he do it? A combination of smart licensing deals cut by the executors of his estate, a huge spike in sales of the singer's catalog since his June 2009 death and, most important, the $250 million worldwide box-office receipts of the tour rehearsal film "This Is It," including a $60 million advance from Sony Pictures. Music sales alone brought in $50 million thanks to heavy radio play and album sales, along with receipts from a Jackson-themed video game and the re-release of his autobiography, "Moon Walk," which added another $50 million to the pile.
The unprecedented numbers could continue, as a deal with Sony Music to issue unreleased recordings — the first album is due in November — is worth another $200 million to $250 million over the next seven years. Money will also keep flowing in as a result of Jackson's ownership of half of the Sony/ATV catalog, which contains a half a million songs by a stunning array of artists, including Lady Gaga, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Bob Dylan and Beyoncé. That deal alone could rake in $25 million to $50 million a year.
