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AEG Live Could Break Even After Jackson's Death
3-Jul-2009
Written by: Lindsey Weedston
Insurance, rehearsal footage could make up for cancelled shows.
Following Michael Jackson's unexpected death, his concert promoter AEG Live found itself with a $30 million concert without its main attraction.
The company was forced to offer refunds for the 50 sold-out London shows, which was expected to cause severe losses. According to the L. A. Times, it now seems that AEG Live might actually make money out of all of this.
Although the promoter offered refunds to all of the nearly one million ticket holders, they pointed out that the concert ticket could be kept as a momento. Nearly half of the ticket-holders have chosen this option so far. AEG's chief executive, Randy Phillips, said that if these numbers hold, the company could break even.
It will also help if AEG's insurance plan for the concerts pays off. Reuters reports that the shows were insured for $17.5 million, but they will likely only receive this money if the autopsy report proves that Jackson's death was an accident.
The biggest money-maker AEG Live has is the 100 plus hours of meetings and rehearsals leading up to the comeback concerts. According to Bloomberg, they have enough material to make two live albums. As Phillips put it, they have "the most compelling intellectual property on the last days of Michael Jackson."
If AEG Live does make enough money to cover their losses, it will ease the burden on Jackson's estate, which was already left with an estimted $500 million debt.
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