AEG Trial Session 49: This Is It: A Four-Year Global Tour, 338 Concerts, 13 Million Viewers, $1 Billion in Revenue

Today, Brian Panish, the Jacksons’ attorney, objected to the company lawyer’s performance from the previous day—raising the 1999 lawsuit and Michael’s financial penalty—but the judge did not accept it. After that, Arthur Ark returned to the stand.

Ark said that AEG was very eager to collaborate with Michael Jackson on the making of a 3D film trailer and a television special about the This Is It concerts in London with Michael Jackson. The accountant the day before had said that if Michael had survived, he could have earned more than $1 billion in gross revenue from activities related to the TII tour (world tour, merchandise sales, advertising, shows, and Vegas). He had estimated that figure based on financial data provided by AEG and said it was conservative. Sabrina Strong, the company’s attorney, today tried to show that this number was far from reality. She said the company had never estimated that the tour would generate that kind of income.

Ark had said the world tour would be held with 260 concerts, and Strong also rejected that claim, saying the company did not intend to stage that many shows. She said Michael had held 275 concerts across his three world tours over a ten-year period (1987 to 1997), and that staging 260 shows in a three-year tour was something MJ had never done. The Bad tour, with 123 shows, was longer than Michael’s. He was 29 years old. During the Dangerous tour, he was 33 and performed 70 concerts. His last tour, History, was held at age 38 with 82 concerts.

Strong: “He performed 275 concerts in three tours over a ten-year period when he was young, and now you’re telling me that twelve years later, when he was fifty, he would be doing 260 concerts?”

Ark: “Yes.”

Ark, who had previously said the TII world tour would run for 37 months, raised the figure again this time and said that witnesses testified that MJ could have continued the tour for 48 months, which would have increased the estimated revenue by 30% over the previous figure. That revenue increase could have come from higher ticket prices or merchandise sales. He said that when including advertising, the increase would have been even more than 30%. He said that 78 additional concerts would be added to the 260, and in the end Michael would have been staging 338 concerts around the world over four years. Ark pointed out that Randy Phillips, AEG’s CEO, had written in an email that they intended to hold a four-year tour. He also noted that Kenny Ortega and Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter, testified in their interrogations that Michael was planning a world tour.

Paris Jackson deposition film: Download

Strong asked whether Michael had ever agreed to perform more than fifty concerts. Ark didn’t know, but said that he had spoken with Prince, Michael’s son, about the matter on Saturday. Prince confirmed the world tour claim and said his father had told him, “We’re going to Asia.”

The contract provisions between Michael and the company also mentioned the possibility of expanding the tour.

Strong: “You’ve estimated that he sold 100% of the tickets for all of his concerts?”

Ark: “Based on the extreme demand that existed, yes. He falls into a particular category. He’s the king of pop. You can’t compare him to anyone else.”

Strong: “You assumed that he would fill Rose Bowl Stadium three times with crowds, but he had never performed there.”

Brian Panish objected and said that in 1993 Michael performed the Super Bowl show there and the stadium was packed.

Ark also estimated that Michael could have held sixty concerts in India. Strong said Michael had performed in India only once during his career. Strong also took issue with the plan for 10 concerts at Salt Lake Stadium (the Yuva Bharati Krirangan Stadium located in Kolkata, India) and said the Indian government had banned performances there in 2009. Strong said she got this information from Wikipedia. The information had been removed from Wikipedia, but Strong said that if it had been true, MJ couldn’t have carried out those 10 concerts. Ark said the matter depended on negotiations. He also said many wealthy people lived in India who could have afforded to buy tickets.

Strong said that none of Michael’s tours were among the 25 highest-grossing tours in history, and that Ark’s estimated revenue for the TII tour was ten times Michael’s income from his previous tours. Michael’s highest-grossing tour was History, at $165 million. History was the 26th highest-grossing tour of all time. Strong pointed out that although History was Michael’s most money-making tour, he didn’t take even a fraction of that income home. The Bad tour, which had $125 million in revenue, also did not generate profit for Michael.

(Gang Wer, AEG’s director and one of Michael’s associates, had said in earlier sessions that Michael didn’t hold tours because of money. For example, he had donated all the revenue from the Dangerous tour to charities.)

Ark explained that Michael didn’t sell tour tickets at high prices and that his tickets were cheaper than those of his other collaborators.

Strong: “Knowing that Michael Jackson’s highest-grossing tour was $165 million, you’re saying the TII tour with 260 concerts would have had gross revenue of $1.5 billion?”

Ark: “Yes.”

Strong: “And that figure is still conservative?”

Ark: “Yes.”

Ark said the TII tour would have sold nearly 13 million tickets. Strong noted that the number of tickets sold for each of the Bad and History tours was 4.5 million.

Ark explained that TII was Michael’s last stage shows, and that’s why he would have gone all out. Regarding the Bad tour, he said: “I can tell you that that tour was extraordinary.”

Strong tried to show Michael Jackson as drowning in debt and unable to generate this kind of income. She referred to Michael’s financial details. Strong took issue with Ark’s testimony that Michael spent $134 from ages 50 to 65, saying that according to statements by Barry Siegel, Michael’s accountant, his life was far more expensive. She said he once bought a $1 million watch but had to return it because he didn’t have enough money available. Strong said Michael had very high income, but he spent more than that—around $20 to $30 million per year. She noted that at the time of his death, Michael had a $400 million debt, and that the Haynehurst home was placed on the market for sale by a bank in June 2009. Strong said Michael had borrowed against his music catalog. Ark mentioned the loan amount as $320 million. Strong referred to a note about the loan taken against the Sony/ATV catalog, which stated that Michael could not repay the loan. She asked Ark why he hadn’t factored that information into his estimate. Ark said his job wasn’t that, and that they used the data they considered necessary to estimate Michael’s possible future income.

Ark explained that he had been working in this profession for 34 years and was skilled at what he does.

Ark: “The reason he decided to go on tour was because he was seeing the facts and wanted to pay his debts and take care of his family. He needed to work. He needed money. He had enough motivation to perform all the concerts.”

Strong asked whether Ark knew the reason for the end of Siegel’s and MJ’s collaboration. The Jacksons’ attorney objected to the way the question was being raised. Strong then asked, assuming that Siegel had been terminated because Michael hadn’t reduced his expenses—would that have caused Ark to increase his estimate, the $134 million? The answer was no.

Strong: “Do artists usually make the final decision themselves?”

Ark: “Yes, of course, with consultation from the experts around them.”

Strong used all her tools to show the decline in Michael Jackson’s credibility with the general public and tried to prove that allegations and news about Michael could have reduced public enthusiasm for him.

Ark, however, said that the sexual allegation against Michael Jackson had no effect on public interest in his shows.

Strong even referenced an event in 2002 in which Michael showed his infant son Blanket to fans from the balcony of his hotel window. The media refer to the incident as the horrifying case of hanging a child out of a window. Strong asked whether people had taken issue with that event. Ark said that for a short time, yes, but that incident did not affect people’s willingness to attend his concerts.

Ark said that AEG was initially skeptical about public reception, but the sale of 750,000 tickets for the TII tour within five hours showed that Michael Jackson’s popularity had not been harmed by his allegations.

AEG had started the tour in London because Michael had a strong market there and was away from negative U.S. media. Ark said that after London, the tour would go to Europe, Asia, Australia, and finally the United States, and by then the negative image that had been portrayed about him in America would have become ineffective.

Strong asked Ark to agree with her statement that Michael Jackson was more well-regarded in the 1980s than in 2000. Ark responded that the 1980s were the time when MJ earned the title of king of pop.

After the session ended, the attorneys for both sides—Brian Panish and Marvin Putnam—got into a heated verbal dispute in the courthouse hallway while speaking with the media and fans. They shouted at each other, and a court employee asked them to keep calm. He informed the officers and said the matter would be brought to the judge’s attention and discussed tomorrow.

Source: eMJey.com / LA Times & AP