Michael Jackson's Estimated Net Worth On His 60th Birthday

On Wednesday, Michael Jackson would have been 60 years old. Every year, the day is celebrated as Michael Jackson Day in honor of the legend.

Jackson passed away in 2009 when he was 50 years old, and was thought to have debts of up to $500 million at the time of his death.

According to newly released documents from 2015, the King of Pop was making more money than he did when he was alive. The newly released 73-page court documents showed his estate raked in $74 million in a year.

The documents claimed executors of the estate disposed of most of the creditors’ claims, though some debts still remained. Jackson’s estate earned $74 million in 2015, which included publishing rights to his songs that brought in $2.4m in just that year alone. His merchandising arm, Triumph International, also brought in an additional $18.8m during the same time period.

Forbes revealed Jackson was the highest-earning dead celebrity for the fifth year in a row with $75 million in 2017.

Daily Mail reported there was enough money left for other expenditures as well. His children received a $10.8 million house, $85,297 on a Cadillac Escalade for the security team and his son Prince got a $70,000 truck. The children also received an additional $28,500 spending money during a Hawaii holiday. Jackson’s mother got around $1 million for her health bills and expenses. She also received $257,379 to run her house.

The estimates are from the year 2015 alone. But since then, Jackson has gone on to earn more. He topped Forbes’s Top Earning Dead Celebrities list in 2016 and 2017. He brought in an additional $75 million in 2017 due to a CBS special called “Michael Jackson’s Halloween” and a new album.

Sony bought 50 percent share of Jackson’s estate in 2016 for $750 million. This year, they announced they also bought EMI Music Publishing’s share of the estate for $278 million. This means the estate earned more than $1 billion from the sale of the assets.

Jackson’s net worth at the time of his death was estimated to about $500 million, reported Daily Mail. However, the figure was disputed by executors of Jackson’s estate. According to them, his name and image was worth as little as $2,105. They said his image was ruined due to stories of skin bleaching, plastic surgery, drug issues and allegations about molestation of young boys at his Neverland Ranch.

The estate’s lead attorney, Howard Weitzman, said when he was alive, Jackson earned less than $50 million from licensing his image and rights.

“It seems preposterous that the IRS would arrive at a value 10 times this amount,” he said. “This is bizarre.”

Jackson earned about $1.1 billion between 1979 and 2009, according to Forbes. His albums, endorsements, the acquisition of ATV Music in 1986, successful tours, the Sony/ATV merger, the release of "HIStory" and royalties generated by his music added to his earnings.