Michael Jackson’s likeness valued at $4.1 million in legal win for estate

"Decades before his death he kept spending as if he had not."

May 4, 2021

Michael Jackson’s estate has scored a legal victory in a years-long battle with the IRS over the value of the late singer’s assets and image at the time of his death.

As theGRIO previously reported, the dispute centered on Jackson’s image, as well as his recording legacy. The estate said the taxable value of the singer’s image and likeness was $2,105 — while the IRS said it was more like $434 million. The estate’s stake in Jackson’s recording assets was valued at $469 million by the IRS but was not included in the 2009 estate filing.

Essentially, the estate said Jackson’s legacy is worth considerably less than the tax agency believes it is. On Monday, U.S. Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes issued a more than 250-page ruling that put the figure at $111 million, per The Hollywood Reporter.

“From the time he was a child Michael Jackson was famous; and there were times in his life, testified his executor, when he was the most famous person in the world,” Holmes wrote in his ruling. “There were certainly years when he was the most well-known popular-music star, and even after his death there have been years when he was the world’s highest-earning entertainer. But there were also many years when he was more famous for his unusual behavior and not his unusual talent. And there were some years where his fame was turned infamous by serious accusations of the most noisome acts,” he continued.

“We make no particular judgment about what Jackson did or is alleged to have done, but we must decide how what he did and is alleged to have done affected the value of what he left behind,” Holmes added.

In the litigation, the Estate valued Jackson’s likeness at $3,078,000. The IRS put it at $161,307,045. Judge Holmes determined it to be worth approximately $4.15 million at the time of his death.

“Jackson had outlived the peak of his popularity, but in the decades before his death he kept spending as if he had not,” Holmes said. “Popular culture always moves on. There will come a time when Captain EO joins Monte Brewster and Terry Forbes as names that without googling sort of sound familiar, but only to people of a certain age or to students of entertainment history,” he continued.

“And just as the grave will swallow Jackson’s fame, time will erode the Estate’s income. It resurrected and then sold what became its most valuable asset to Sony before trial. The value of what it has left, no matter how well managed, will now dwindle as Jackson’s copyrights expire and his image and likeness shuffle first into irrelevance and then into the public domain,” Holmes wrote.

Michael Jackson thegrio.com — Michael Jackson (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Holmes also noted that the child abuse allegations that continued to dog Jackson after his acquittal on all counts in 2005 affected the singer’s finances.

“The fact that he earned not a penny from his image and likeness in 2006, 2007, or 2008 shows the effect those allegations had, and continued to have, until his death,” Holmes wrote.

The estate’s executors called the judge’s ruling a major victory for Jackson’s three children.

“We’re pleased,” co-executor John Branca told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “We always try to do the right thing. We tried from the beginning to follow the IRS rules and regulations, and relied on the best experts possible. It’s unfortunate that we were forced to litigate to protect ourselves.”

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