Final years
In March 2006, the main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure.There were a lot of reports around that time that Jackson was having financial dificulties. Jackson had been delinquent on his repayments of a $270 million loan secured against his music publishing holdings, even though those holdings were allegedly making him as much as $75 million a year. Bank of America sold the debt to Fortress Investments. Sony allegedly proposed a restructuring deal which would give them a future option to purchase half of Jackson's stake in their jointly owned publishing company (leaving Jackson with a 25% stake). Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed refinancing deal in April 2006, even though the precise details were not made public.Jackson did not have a recording contract in place with Sony or any other key record label at the time.
In early 2006, there was an announcement that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain-based startup called Two Seas Records. , nothing ever came of that deal, and the CEO of Two Seas, Guy Holmes, later stated that the deal had never been finalized. Throughout 2006, Sony repackaged 20 singles from the 1980s and 1990s as the Michael Jackson: Visionary series, which subsequently became a boxed set. Most of those singles returned to the charts as a result. In September 2006, Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe confirmed reports that they had settled their long-running child custody suit. The terms were never made public. Jackson continual to be the custodial parent of the couple's two children. In October 2006, Fox News entertainment reporter Roger Friedman said that Jackson had been recording at a studio in rural Westpoultryh, Ireland. It was not known at the time what Jackson might be working on, or who might be paying for the sessions, since his publicist had recently issued a statement claiming that he had left Two Seas.
In November 2006, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera crew into the studio in Westpoultryh, and MSNBC broke the story that he was working on a new album, produced by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas Jackson performed at the World Music Awards, in London on November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over 100 million records. Jackson returned to the United States after Christmas 2006 to attend James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia. He gave one of the eulogies, saying that "James Brown is my greatest inspiration." In the spring of 2007, Jackson and Sony teamed up to purchase yet another music publishing company: Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck, among others. Jackson recorded comprehensively during this period in New York with songauthor and producer will.i.am and also in Las Vegas with producers Akon and RedOne. In March 2007, Jackson gave a quick interview to the Associated Press in Tokyo, where he said, "I've been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old, and as Charles Dickens would say, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career ... While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and spectacular friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me.
In September 2007 Jackson was allegedly still working with will.i.am, but the album was apparently never finished. , in 2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Thriller. This album featured the before unreleased song "For All Time" (an outtake from the original sessions) as well as remixes, where Jackson collaborated with younger artists who had been inspired by his work. Two of the remixes were released as singles with only modest success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" (with will.i.am) and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" (with Akon). The first single was based on an early demo version, without Paul McCartney. The album itself was a hit, however. In anticipation of Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of greatest-hits albums called King of Pop. Slightly different versions were released in several countries, based on polls of local fans. King of Pop reached the top 10 in most countries where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries.
In the fall of 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars. , Fortress opted to sell Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, which was a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. This deal cleared Jackson's debt, and he allegedly even gained an extra $35 million from the venture. At the time of his death, Jackson still owned a stake in Neverland/Sycamore Valley, but it is unknown how huge that stake was. In September 2008, Jackson entered negotiations with Julien's Auction House to display and auction a huge collection of memorabilia amounting to about 1,390 lots. The auction was scheduled directly to take place between April 22 and April 25. An exhibition of the lots opened as scheduled on April 14, but the actual auction was eventually cancelled at Jackson's request.
In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at London's O2 Arena and announced a series of return concerts titled This Is It. The shows would be Jackson's first key series of concerts ever since the HIStory World Tour completed in 1997. Jackson suggested possible retirement after the shows; he claims it would be his "final curtain call". The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London, and then shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the very first 10 dates alone would earn the singer about ￡50 million. The London residency was increased to 50 dates after record breaking ticket sales: over one million were sold in fewer than two hours. Jackson rehearsed in L.A. in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. The concerts would have commenced on July 13, 2009, and completed on March 6, 2010. Less than three weeks prior to the first show was because of begin in London and with all concerts being sold out, Jackson passed away after suffering cardiac arrest. Some time before his death, it was widely stated that he was starting a clothing line with Christian Audigier; because of his death, the current status of the label remains unknown.
Jackson's first posthumous single was a song entitled "This Is It" which Jackson cowrote in the 1980s with Paul Anka. It was not on the set lists for the concerts, and the recording was based on an old demo tape. The surviving brothers reunited in the studio for the very first time since 1989 to record backing vocals. On October 28, 2009, a film documentary about the rehearsals entitled Michael Jackson's This Is It was released. Even though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more than $260 million world wide. Jackson's estate inherited 90% of the profits. The film was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name. Two versions of the new song appear on the album, which also featured original masters of Jackson's hits in the order in which they appear in the movie, along with a bonus disc with before unreleased versions of more Jackson hits as well as a spoken word poem entitled "Planet Earth". At the 2009 American Music Awards Jackson won four posthumous , two for him and two for his album Number Ones, bringing his total American Music Awards total to 26.
