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Media Top Stories
Elvis drops off top of dead rich list, Jacko comes in third
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 30 October 2009
Talking of the dead, which we weren’t, but could have been, Forbes have released their annual survey of the highest earning dead celebrities, that is to say the celebrity estates that are generating the most cash.
Many expected Michael Jackson to top the poll, though he’d only been dead for a third of the year that the survey considers, and while the deals have been coming in thick and fast since his untimely demise, alongside a huge boost in record sales, he was beaten in the poll by two other dead celebs whose estates had one-off mega-buck transactions in the last twelve months.
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent (pictured), who died in 2008, came top, thanks to the $443 million generated by an auction of many of his possessions, which included expensive art, antiques and furniture, the profits of which went to charitable organisations. In second place were Broadway legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, thanks to that previously reported deal with publishing firm Imagem, who bought the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organisation and its catalogue of music. Forbes say that one deal accounted for much of the $235 million they reckon the Rodgers and Hammerstein estates generated between them.
Jackson is third in the list, followed by the frequent list leader Elvis Presley, who generated about $55 million in the last year. Fifth in the poll is JRR Tolkien, whose estate’s income for the year was boosted by the settlement of a profit-share dispute with the studios behind the ‘Lord Of The Rings’ films, the result of which was one big cheque from the movie franchise for monies that might otherwise have come in over several years.
So, well done one and all, you dead people.
