Forbes Asia - November 2016

Top-Earning

Dead Celebrities

1. MICHAEL JACKSON

$825 MILLION

MUSICIAN

DIED: JUNE 25, 2009 AGE: 50

CAUSE: OVERDOSE / HOMICIDE

Jackson paid $47.5 million in 1985 ($140 million in 2016 dollars) to

buy the Beatles-packed ATV publishing catalog. Ten years later

Sony paid him $115 million to form a 50/50 joint venture, then

purchased the other half this past March. In all, the sales gave Jack-

son’s estate, which is controlled by lawyer John Branca and music

executive John McClain, a 30% annualized return on investment.

2. CHARLES SCHULZ

$48 MILLION

CARTOONIST

DIED: FEB. 12, 2000 AGE: 77

CAUSE: COLON CANCER

The Peanuts creator moves near the top of

the list with his cut of the beloved brand’s

licensing revenue, boosted by last year’s

well-received 3-D Peanuts movie.

54 | FORBES ASIA NOVEMBER 2016

YES, THE PEARLY GATES seemed to welcome an unusual number of celebs in

the past year (David Bowie, Prince and Arnold Palmer, to name a few)—but the long-

departed King of Pop had the time of his afterlife. The $750 million sale of Michael

Jackson’s half of the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog, famous for its library of Beatles

tunes, puts him at the top of our annual ranking of the dead celebrities who earned the

most. This is ironic given that many critics, and some of Jackson’s advisors, once

derided the catalog as a badly overpriced investment. Jacko’s payday ranks as

the biggest annual haul by any celeb—dead or alive.

Biggest Celebrity Paychecks,

Dead or Alive

MICHAEL JACKSON’S $825 million income in 2016 is the most

any celebrity has ever earned in a single year—and he did it while

deceased. Only Yves Saint Laurent has come even remotely close

from the boneyard; these other big paydays went to the living.

10. BETTIE PAGE

$11 MILLION

MODEL

DIED: DEC. 11, 2008 AGE: 85

CAUSE: NATURAL CAUSES

The original pinup’s eternal sex appeal

has scored her lingerie, bridal wear and

handbag licensing deals.

DR. DRE

$620 MIL

(2014)

SOURCE:

APPLE/BEATS

DEAL

YVES SAINT LAURENT

$335 MIL

(2009)

SOURCE:

POSTHUMOUS

ART-AND-ANTIQUES

AUCTION

HOWARD STERN

$302 MIL

(2006)

SOURCE:

SIRIUS XM DEAL

OPRAH WINFREY

$315 MIL

(2010)

SOURCE:

TELEVISION SHOW

9. ALBERT

EINSTEIN

$11.5 MILLION

SCIENTIST

DIED: APR. 18, 1955 AGE: 76

CAUSE: NATURAL CAUSES

The frizzy-haired

physicist stars not just on

dorm-room posters and

sophomoric T-shirts but

also on tablets designed by

Israeli tech company Fou-

rier Systems; his estate has

also licensed his name to

Salesforce’s new artificial-

intelligence product.

3. ARNOLD PALMER

$40 MILLION

ATHLETE

DIED: SEPT. 25, 2016 AGE: 87

CAUSE: HEART DISEASE

He won’t be doing more TV spots for

the likes of Electronic Arts and Xarel-

to, but 500 Arnold Palmer–branded

stores in Asia and his eponymous

half-lemonade, half-iced-tea drink,

which accounts for a quarter of

Arizona Beverage’s revenue, will

certainly enrich the golfer’s afterlife.

FORBES ASIA

ENTERTAINMENT

EDITED BY ZACK O’MALLEY GREENBURG AND NATALIE ROBEHMED

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KURT BADENHAUSEN