Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate sold for $22 million

Michael Jackson’s
estate Neverland has been sold for less than a quarter of its initial asking
price. The 2,700-acre (1,100 hectare) property in Los Olivos, California, initially
listed for $100 million in 2015, was sold for $22 million, AFP reported quoting
the Wall Street Journal.

US billionaire
Ron Burkle, a former friend of Jackson, bought the estate, his spokesperson
confirmed on Thursday. The late ‘King of Pop’ had designed the property as a
fairy-tale themed retreat, with toy railroad, a Ferris wheel and orangutans. He
is also reported to have written some of his biggest hits at this property.

But the
ranch is also infamous for being the location where Jackson would invite
children to visit for sleep overs, and where he was accused of molesting young
boys. It was rebranded as Sycamore Valley Ranch after Jackson’s death in 2009.

Montana-based
businessman Burkle, whose investments range from supermarkets to the
entertainment industry, bought this property “as a land banking opportunity,”
his spokesperson told AFP.

The initial
price, described as “optimistic” by realtors at the time, of $100 million in
2015 was slashed to $31 million last year and was taken off the market after it
did not sell. Jackson reportedly paid $19.5 million for the ranch in the 1980s.

Burkle was
flying in the region recently to scout a neighbouring property as a possible new
branch of his Soho House private club network when he spotted the ranch and
called its owner, according to the spokesman.

Thomas
Barrack Jr.’s Colony Capital investment firm purchased the ranch from the
heavily indebted singer for $22.5 million the year before his death. Burkle
previously worked as an adviser for the singer on business matters, including
resolving debts incurred by his lavish lifestyle in the years before his death.

The estate,
located 40 miles (65 kilometres) from Santa Barbara features a main house with
six bedrooms along with three guest houses, a four-acre lake with a waterfall,
tennis courts, several barns and animal shelter facilities.

Jackson’s
ranch was raided in 2003 as part of a child molestation case against him and
police at the time seized a large collection of pornography and images of nude
children.

Jackson was
acquitted in the case in 2005.

Last year,
HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland” aired testimonies of two men who
claim Jackson sexually abused them as children all over the ranch, including
the attic, the master bedroom and the pool.

The Jackson
estate, which is suing HBO for $100 million over a “posthumous character
assassination”, denies all the allegations, as Jackson did in his
lifetime.