King of Pop's estate has rebounded since death

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Los Angeles » The money is rolling in. The bills are being paid. And all those people who said Michael Jackson might earn more in death than in life are being proved right.

Like the estates of Elvis Presley and Yves Saint Laurent, Jackson's has grown immensely since he died June 25, 2009.

Without Jackson's lavish spending sprees, and with the help of new revenue pouring in from nostalgia over the reign of the King of Pop, estate co-executors John Branca and John McClain have dramatically turned around Jackson's finances.

A kingdom that was on the verge of collapse from more than $500 million in debt now looks to be able to support his three children and his mother and donate healthily to children's charities.

The estate has earned more than $250 million in the year since he died. Executors used some of that to pay off $70 million in debt, including the $5 million mortgage on the Jackson family compound in Encino, part of Los Angeles. The interest payments on the remaining debt are now covered by a steady flow of cash.

"They're off to a spectacularly good start," said Lance Grode, a former Jackson lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law School. He added, however, "there's a long way to go before they pay off all of their debts."

A rundown of deals suggests Jackson's fortune will be even bigger than could have been realized by a planned series of comeback concerts:

-- A posthumous deal to sell unreleased Jackson recordings with Sony Music guaranteed $200 million over seven years. It has already brought $125 million to the estate.

-- The film "This Is It," based on his final concert rehearsal footage, grossed $252 million worldwide. Sony Pictures paid the estate $60 million in advance, with an undisclosed amount more to come from DVD sales.

-- Licensing deals on merchandise sold by Universal Music Group's Bravado unit and a new dance game by Ubisoft Entertainment brought in $26 million in advances. More is possible if unit sales are high.

-- The Mijac Music catalog of copyrights, on songs that Jackson wrote, generated $25 million in the past year, thanks to heavy airplay on radio stations and song and album sales.

-- Music publisher Sony/ATV, the copyright holder of the Beatles' and other artists' songs, posted double-digit percentage revenue gains in the year through March. That netted Jackson's estate, which owns a 50 percent stake, $11 million.

The tally does not include a deal with Cirque du Soleil for shows inspired by Jackson's music, in which the estate will share half the costs and profits when the performances begin in late 2011. Nor does it account for a deal in the works to nearly double the estate's income from Sony/ATV. That cash goes to pay down most of Jackson's remaining debt.