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Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is set be sold at auction on March 19.
Jackson received word Monday from Financial Title Company, the trustee, that unless he pays off $24,525,906.61 by that date, a public auction will go forward in Santa Barbara, Calif., in front of the county courthouse.
It's not just the house either. When Neverland is auctioned, it will include everything: all personal property inside, all fixtures and appliances, furniture, and "all merry go round type devices," any rides, games. The auction literally includes every single thing that is or isn't nailed down.
• /projects/pdf/AR-BC320_20080226_114706.pdfClick here to read the notice of sale.
At this point, Jackson may just let the auction proceed. He hasn't been at Neverland since June 30, 2005, when he departed for Bahrain. No one lives there, the animals in the zoo are all gone, the rides are either sold or shut down.
Financially, Jackson remains in no position to cure his dilemma. Even though he refinanced his $300 million loan from Fortress Investments with help from Sony Music, HSBC and Barclays Bank, the Neverland loan was not part of that deal. Fortress would clearly like to get out of the Jackson business altogether now, so selling at auction is their answer.
What if no one comes up with a decent bid? Fortress will likely take possession and list the property with a Santa Barbara real estate broker. Neverland could be marketed as a corporate retreat. Or perhaps a very wealthy new owner will show up and make a fire sale pitch.
But an era is about to end forever: Jackson, who brought this on himself, is about to lose one of his two biggest assets. All that will remain after that will be his song publishing interests, and they are leveraged into the next millennium.
More to come...
End of an era...
Side-note: Just as I'm posting this, the video for "Scream" comes on.
