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【英文原文】
Savvy Deals Aided Jackson's Lavish Lifestyle
摘要：尽管迈克尔•杰克逊(Michael Jackson)的怪癖和大手大脚花钱的方式是出了名的，但他在商业上也有数项明智之举，否则他早就因奢侈古怪的生活方式而陷入了财务困境。
Despite Michael Jackson's well-earned reputation for eccentricity and free-spending ways, he made several savvy business moves that kept him financially afloat far longer than his lavish and bizarre lifestyle might otherwise have allowed.
At the time of his death, he was attempting to dig himself out of about $500 million in debt. Now, a fresh business drama could play out over his estate.
In 1985, Mr. Jackson paid $47.5 million for ATV Music Publishing, the owner of copyrights to the words and music of 251 Beatles songs, among other compositions.
That proved a shrewd move. In 1995, Mr. Jackson sold half of ATV to Sony Corp. for $150 million, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. The partnership's value grew explosively and likely exceeds $1 billion today.
As his singing career wound down, Mr. Jackson borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars against Sony/ATV and Neverland, his 2,600-acre estate near Santa Barbara, Calif. The loans were passed around among banks and Wall Street firms as Mr. Jackson repeatedly verged on default, only to refinance at even more onerous terms.
One loan, backed by a company that owns the copyrights to songs Mr. Jackson wrote, carried a 16.5% interest rate, according to people with knowledge of the loan.
Still, Mr. Jackson was making approximately $19 million a year at the time of his death, according to three people familiar with his finances, with around $12 million coming from album sales and $7 million generated by his stake in Sony/ATV.
With Mr. Jackson's debt load, even that level of income wasn't enough to keep his finances stable, according to people familiar with them. That is why he agreed to return to the stage in a series of 50 concerts at London's O2 arena that had been planned to kick off next month.
There were other signs that Mr. Jackson was starting to get his finances back in order. Just last week, he rehired John Branca, the high-profile Los Angeles entertainment attorney who struck many of the singer's most lucrative business deals, including the ATV acquisition and the joint venture with Sony.
It is unclear what will happen to Mr. Jackson's tangled finances as his estate is unwound. At one point, according to people familiar with his plans, he had intended to divide his estate among his three children and his mother. It is unclear if that arrangement was subsequently amended.
The stake in Sony/ATV is held in a trust that was designed to protect the singer from creditors. The degree to which Mr. Jackson's assets still exceed his towering liabilities, if at all, could take months to determine, according to people familiar with the situation.
