AEG Live presented its own documents on Wednesday in an attempt to discredit the testimony of an accountant who predicted that Michael Jackson would have earned up to $1.5 billion dollars had he survived a few more years.
Arthur Erk, an accountant specializing in music royalties, testified on behalf of the Jackson family that Michael would havegenerated an estimated $835 million as part of his This Is It tour, as well as additional money from merchandising and a theoretical continuous show in Las Vegas. Erk was later forced to admit that his numbers weren't based on historical data, but merely estimates.
AEG presented its own documents from 2008 when the company was planning Jackson's farewell tour. Erk had hypothesized that JAckson would have played 260 additional dates, more than any previous tour in his life, but AEG was looking at an 186 show run. The world tour would have featured stops in the United States, Australia, India and Europe.
Although the difference in number of dates is dramatic, the financial estimates suggested by the two sides were even more varying. AEG predicted that Jackson would net $132 million following the tour, more than $700 million less than Erk expected. AEG cited the expenses that would have been incurred living up to Jackson's larger-than-life stage sets.
Video testimony from daughter Paris Jackson, taped in February, was presented by AEG's team as well. In the clip, Paris says that her father told her that he had no plans to go on tour following the ten concerts in London, but rather that he would take his children on a tour of the world.
"He still had a lot of music that he was still working on, but he kind of needed to relax," Paris said on the tape.
AEG estimated that Michael would have made between $22 and $30.7 million for the London shows. The Jackson family is currently suing the company for $40 billion in damages.
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