Sony Offers $250 Million To Jackson Estate

It's the kind of deal that once again proves celebrities may be worth far more after they've entered the pearly gates. In an unprecedented agreement, Sony is offering Michael Jackson's estate as much as $250 million, with a guaranteed $200 million, for access to the deceased performer's intellectual property.

While Jackson was one of the great performers of our time, his popularity seemed to be waning before his premature death in June 2009. In fact, he was about to launch a comeback tour. Now the Michael Jackson brand may be immortalized. Jackson's posthumous film, This Is It, was a smash hit. The film's soundtrack was released in October and has since sold 1.5 million copies in the US alone.

Jackson isn't done yet – apparently there are "at least 100 unreleased songs in Jackson's archives," according to his manager Frank DiLeo. And that's just one part of the Sony deal – in addition to gaining access to these songs, the company also gets the right to anything and everything Jackson, from music, movies, and theater to video games.

Sony plans to release as many as ten Michael Jackson albums over the next seven years. The company is hoping the albums and other Jackson productions will continue to produce a revenue stream for decades. It's hard to believe, but Michael Jackson may truly turn out to be more profitable dead than alive.