“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,” writes Holmes. “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. 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.”
The IRS valued Jackson’s likeness and image at about $434 million, while the estate said it was only worth about $2,000 at the time he had died. The reason? Jackson struggled to rehabilitate his image amid allegations of child molestation. In fact, one of the estate’s experts estimated that in the final six months of his life Jackson only made $24 in image- and likeness-related revenue. (After further expert consultation leading up to the trial, the estate would increase its valuation to around $3 million.)
