Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0" target="_blank">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0</a>,2933,173652,00.html >>Jacko Misses Payroll, Ranch for Sale At long last, it seems as though Michael Jackson is conceding defeat. Sources tell me that his 2,700 acre ranch, Neverland, in Los Olivos, Calif., is going up for sale. As in now, and not six months ago as falsely reported in tabloids. And it’s not a minute too soon. Sources tell me that Jackson missed the most recent payroll, which was due two weeks ago today. Jackson finally paid his staff on the following Monday. But the remaining staff will likely not be paid today. At least six Neverland employees have quit in the last couple of months, my insiders say. "Everyone is pissed," says a staffer. "It was one thing when this happened during the trial, but now is a different story." In May and June, Jackson missed payroll several times, and staffers conducted a work stoppage. They may be, but certainly Jackson has other legal problems facing him in the United States, including a $48 million breach of contract suit, a pending action involving mediation in a past suit, another civil suit involving child molestation and Marc Schaffel’s $4 million suit over money he says Jackson owes him. Selling Neverland will be complicated by liens on the property. Fortress Investments inherited an $18 million lien that is attached to the $70 million loan against Jackson’s Mijac Music Publishing. Neverland could possibly sell for $40 million, which — after the lien is satisfied and taxes are paid — could leave him with enough cash to buy some new valueless tchotchkes.<<
Originally Posted By danyoung Very very sad. At least I can separate MJ as he currently is from MJ as Captain EO. I LOVED that show!!!
Originally Posted By Darkbeer No, the State should NOT buy it.. Now, if someone or some group like the Sierra Club wants to buy it, and then donate it... that would be great.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder What with the new eminent domain law the Supreme Court came up with, the state SHOULD buy it by proclaiming the land should be seized and used for more profitable purpose, like counseling for the mentally deranged, victims of child molestation and people who try to change their skin color.
Originally Posted By smeeeko ohhh i would love for a feral cat sanctuary! (serisouly) they need a place to hang out too that isn't a garbage dump or alley..
Originally Posted By vbdad55 He could sell the rights to the early Beatles songs back to McCartney before it is too late to do so -- that would be a start.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder "He could sell the rights to the early Beatles songs back to McCartney before it is too late to do so -- that would be a start." Amen to that. McCartney rightly looks at those songs as his "children". When Jackson outbid him for the rights he apparently shocked McCartney to the point to where it dissolved whatever frienship they had. McCartney says Jackson said he'd never do that to Paul, and look what happened.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder <a href="http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/jackson.htm" target="_blank">http://www.snopes.com/music/ar tists/jackson.htm</a> <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=82" target="_blank">http://www.songfacts.com/detai l.php?id=82</a>& <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/thebeatles/story/0" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/theb eatles/story/0</a>,11212,606544,00.html <a href="http://laweekly.com/ink/04/10/sitegeist-shulman.php" target="_blank">http://laweekly.com/ink/04/10/ sitegeist-shulman.php</a>
Originally Posted By gadzuux < ---- Self-confessed michael fan. That said, selling neverland can be a positive thing. Michael played the eternal man-child far too long - the proverbial 'peter pan syndrome'. He's almost fifty now, and ideas and projects he had passion for in his twenties and thirties are more unseemly today. And of course, given the past few years and the scandals that have gone on, an elaborate (and expensive) enterprise for children shouldn't be something he's linked to any longer. Neverland will always be associated with him, so it should not continue in any form. The 'park' portion of the property should be dismantled and scattered to the winds. The Neverland name for the property should be immediately retired. Finally, michael should "work". Selling assets and liquidating property is one thing, but it doesn't qualify as income. His fame and fortune grew so large during the eighties, that any manner of proportion or scale got lost along the way. His "lifestyle" was unsustainable in the long-term. With or without the scandals, the size and grandeur of everything associated with michael had to come to an end. It should have been scaled back years ago. He should skip the 'conventional wisdom' of another album, and instead mount an ambitious tour that mines the rich catalog of solid material over his thirty-plus year career. The numbers of people who are still willing to spend their money on michael jackson "product", while still vast, are much smaller than they used to be. He can make more money from less people via live touring, and once again remind us why he was so famous in the first place.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder There had been talk that to make some quick money he would do Vegas, but you have to wonder if any hotel/casino would want to hire him. He'd likely demand a huge salary, probably up front, and who's to say he'd turn a profit for any employer? I'm having a hard time imagining who his audience would be. On a side note, there was the news he was going to attempt to put together a "We Are The World" type thing for Katrina victims. His rep released the names of all sorts of people who would appear. Hardly any, in reality, wanted anything to do with him.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder I got it. if he doe smake another album, he should call it "Pariah".
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <I'm having a hard time imagining who his audience would be.> You and me both, STPH.
Originally Posted By gadzuux See? That's just it - michael is not the 'pariah' you're making him out to be. There are plenty of people who would buy tickets to his show, and would buy his record if it's any good. The 'high and mighty' types that want to castigate him generally will now turn their nose up at songs that he might have done twenty years ago, just because it's him, nevermind that the music still stands up fine today. He's lost that crowd and there's not much to be done about it now. But that doesn't mean that he can't earn a LOT of money playing to the people that still like his music and dancing.
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Originally Posted By JohnS1 I thought that during the trial MJ said that when he was acquitted he was immediately heading out on a world tour with the Jacksons to perform both old and new hits. What happened to that?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I thought that during the trial MJ said that when he was acquitted he was immediately heading out on a world tour with the Jacksons to perform both old and new hits. What happened to that?<< I don't know, but a tour costs money, and it isn't the "sure thing" it once was profit wise. I can't think of a company at the present that would want to sponsor him here in America. Maybe overseas, Asia perhaps?
