eems not even the boneyard is immune from inflation. It’s by far the biggest 12-month haul since we started tracking graveyard earnings in 2001 – and, for the first time ever, the top five made more than $100 million each.The Hobbit
. The former Oxford don, who died of pneumonia in 1973, earned $500 million from the sale of Middle-Earth Enterprises, which handles intellectual property rights for motion pictures, videogames, merchandise, and more to Swedish gaming company Embracer in August. Following close behind is basketball legend Kobe Bryant with $400 million from his estate’s sale of his stake in the BodyArmor sports drink company to Coca-Cola. It marks the largest acquisition in the soft drink firm’s history.
Elvis Presley may have left the building, permanently, but the King of Rock N’ Roll is still an economic powerhouse. Forty-five years after his death, Elvis’ estate generated $110 million in income. The lion’s share was made from box office and merchandise sales at Graceland, Presley’s Memphis home—just $5 million of that came from rights forOverall, the music of yesteryear is seen by investors as a reliable income stream. Nearly $700 million of the $1.
“In the early days of rock n’ roll, companies owned everything and fought with the artists’ representatives to gain control of their IP,” says entertainment attorney John Branca, who manages Michael Jackson’s estate. “Now it’s swung back in the other direction as artists get older, and are estate planning, and tax planning, and selling their IP back to the companies.”Additional reporting by Richard J. Chang, Kyle Henderson, Conor Murray and Emily Washburn.