How The Beatles Could Bail Out Jackson
Michael Jackson might use the Beatles — or, rather, his share of Sony publishing, which owns more than 200 of the Fab Four's songs — to pull him out of debt.
The Wall Street Journal phrases Jackson's potential loss of half of his 50 percent share in the song collection as a likely disappointment for the debt-laden King of Pop. The "lucrative" share is "his most prized asset," the Journal reported Thursday.
Jackson is reported to have refinanced loan agreements to the tune of $270 million with a New York-based investment group. The singer could announce as early as today that he plans to repay part of that sum.
The slow slide from the upper echelons of stardom has apparently taken Jackson to a new low. After years of building up debt while his music career took a nosedive, Jackson shuttered up and nearly closed his infamous ranch, Neverland.
The Wall Street Journal was unable to reach Jackson, who has been living in recent months in Bahrain after being acquitted of child-molestation charges.
Meanwhile, the Beatles are finding headlines of their own. A London court is slated to rule on the battle between Apple Computer and the Beatles' Apple Corps. over their use of similar apple likenesses as logo, CBS' Susan McGinnis reports.
While the Beatles' Apple argues that the computer company is illegally using the company's trademark, Apple Computer says consumers are savvy enough to tell the difference.
Apple Computer had asked to have the case heard in California, where it is based, but Mann rejected that application in 2004 and ordered the case to be heard at the stately Royal Courts of Justice in central London.
The judge in the case has admitted to owning both a Mac computer and an iPod, according to MacRumors.com.
This legal dispute comes at a time when The Beatles' legacy is becoming more computer-oriented.
In the case, it was disclosed by Apple Corps big Neil Aspinall that the company is "remastering the whole Beatles catalog, just to make it sound brighter and better and getting booklets to go with each of the packages," World Entertainment News Network via Starpulse reports.
"I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters. It would be better to wait and try to do them both simultaneously so that you then get the publicity of the new masters and the downloading, rather than just doing it ad hoc," he said.
Sony, meanwhile, has a keen interest in keeping Jackson solvent, the New York Times reports.
That's because if Jackson's loan provider forecloses on him, he may be forced into bankruptcy protection, which would put his share in the Sony collection up on the auction block.