MJ ESTATE SITTING PRETTY AFTER SONY-EMI DEAL

Sony grabbed the headlines when it bought out Mubadala et al’s 60% chunk of EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion late last month, giving it 90% of the valuable pubco and consolidating Marty Bandier’s empire, but what the coverage has overlooked until now is that remaining 10%, which is owned by the Michael Jackson Estate.

The purchase price pointed to a valuation of $4.75b for EMP, meaning the Estate’s slice of the pie is worth $475m—more than double what it was worth (approximately $230m) when the consortium bought the company in 2012. Most expect that 10% chunk will continue to appreciate in today’s bullish music marketplace.

Considering that Sony bought the Estate’s share of Sony/ATV for $750m two years ago, it’s readily apparent that the Estate is sitting pretty, as a blog post on Forbes put it, as co-executors John Branca (pictured) and John McClain wait for a possible inquiry from Sony about whether they’d consider selling that 10% of EMP and stow another half billion or more in the Estate's coffers.

This could get interesting.