From Bloomberg:
Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, sold a controlling stake in the business that manages her father’s music rights and Graceland mansion for $100 million to former concert promoter Robert F.X. Sillerman.
Presley sold 85 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which had revenue of $45 million in 2003, Sillerman and Lisa Marie Presley said in a statement. Sillerman said he plans to take the company public as part of a new media company.Something is clearly fishy about this deal, as evidenced by the sale of Rent.com to eBay for $415M, which was announced the same day. Rent.com expects to reach $40 million in revenue in 2004.
It’s not an apples to apples comparison, but it sure looks like the Presley estate was seriously undervalued by Lisa Marie. Later in the article, a hint as to the real reason for the sale is dropped.
She also will receive 500,000 shares of common stock or agree to “the extinguishment of approximately $25 million in outstanding indebtedness,” according to a statement by Sports Entertainment Enterprises Inc., a company Sillerman will use to form CKX Inc., which will hold the Presley stake.
Being $25 million in debt would explain the fire sale…
Ha, I read this yesterday here on Wizbang and elsewhere and I see that, today, there are no comments about it, and what I think it is is that everyone is still reeling in awe that Lisa Marie Presley was “$25 million in debt”. Notice I wrote, “was”.
I was thinking this over. It’s also likely that the Elvis legacy, without a new boost in marketing, is more than likely without that refreshing to begin to fall by the wayside, to see less and less enthusiasm from increasingly distant-from-the-Elvis-phenomenon generations appear in our human population.
As it is, Elvis is increasingly relegated to the Las Vegas style mimicry/impersonators, such that without some familairity with Elvis’ music and performance peaks, people get the idea that Elvis is a toon. So, maybe Lisa Marie used the situation to both benefit her own debt situation and to further ensure the Elvis legacy. You know, could be.
Part of the $100 million payment is $22 million stock in the new company (for Lisa). The founders last two companies sold for 2.1 billion and 4.4 billion. Seems silly to overlook THIS as a huge future source of wealth and instead focus on normal business operating debt. Everything owed by EPE, including long-term mortgages and leases on their real estate, is debt for which she was absolved – standard in a company purchase.