SPEA 3 cents to $10 in a day lol:
Lisa Marie Presley to Sell Elvis Stake for $100 Mln
By Alan Mirabella
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis
Presley, agreed to sell 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 today. Sillerman said he plans to
take the Elvis assets public as part of a new media company.
The purchase marks a return to the entertainment industry
for Sillerman, who created SFX Entertainment Inc. in the 1990s,
made it the largest U.S. producer of live concerts, and sold it
for $4 billion in 2000 to radio station owner Clear Channel
Communications Inc. Sillerman said in an interview his venture
will also finance musicians and distribute their material.
``It's an extremely personal matter for Lisa Marie and she
wants to preserve, protect and enhance'' Elvis's legacy, Jack Soden,
chief executive of Memphis, Tennessee-based Elvis Presley
Enterprises, said in an interview. ``This isn't a brand of cereal.''
The title to Graceland, its 13.6 acre grounds and most of
Elvis's personal effects will remain with Lisa Marie, Soden said.
Lisa Marie, 36, will receive $53 million in cash and $22
million in preferred stock in a business Sillerman is starting to
hold the Elvis assets and represent entertainers, according to a
statement by Sports Entertainment Enterprises Inc. Sillerman said
he will use that company to form CKX Inc.
Presley Payments
She also will receive 500,000 shares of common stock or
agree to ``the extinguishment of approximately $25 million in
outstanding indebtedness,'' the statement said.
Lisa Marie declined to comment on the transaction, Elvis
Presley Enterprises spokesman David Beckwith said. She lived in
Graceland until age four, when she moved to Los Angeles with
Priscilla Presley following the end of her parents' marriage,
according to the VH1.com Web site.
She has two children from her six-year marriage to Danny
Keough, which ended in 1994. She's also been married to Michael
Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage.
Her debut album, ``To Whom It May Concern,'' has sold
187,000 copies since its April 2003 release, according to Nielsen
Soundscan. It was produced by Capitol/EMI Records.
Ronald Boreta, a spokesman for Sports Entertainment
Enterprises, didn't return a telephone call for comment.
`Great Possibilities'
Lisa Marie sold her stake to give Elvis Presley Enterprises
``the financial and technological resources'' to expand the
global sale of Elvis photographs, archival footage and
memorabilia, said Soden, who helped open Graceland in 1982.
``They believe and we agree that there are great
international possibilities'' for Elvis material, said Sillerman
today. ``It's clear that in Asian countries, Germany and parts of
South America they are under Elvis-ed.''
Elvis Presley Enterprises had revenue of $38 million for the
nine months ended Sept. 30 and net operating income, before
depreciation and amortization costs, of $9.4 million, according
to a statement issued by Sports Entertainment Enterprises.
``There might be more profit to be wrung out of these
assets,'' said Hal Vogel, an independent media analyst based in
New York. Sillerman may be able to ``package them more
aggressively than what she's been able to do on her own. He knows
the business and has the contacts and experience.''
Sillerman plans to buy control of Sports Entertainment
Enterprises, which is a defunct operator of golf clinics that
trades on the OTC Bulletin Board.
Partnerships
``We want to partner with important creators of content and
make capital available to them so that they can make decisions on
what they want to do not based on an old model,'' which involved
selling albums, Sillerman said in an interview. ``The economic
model is changing'' for the music industry and today ``it's about
selling music,'' not albums, he said.
Music downloading from the Internet is becoming more
popular, he said.
Before running SFX Entertainment, Sillerman founded SFX
Broadcasting, which owned and operated U.S. radio stations. It
was sold in 1998 to buyout firm Hicks, Muse Tate & Furst.
In March 2000, SFX Entertainment was sued by shareholders who
claimed they were shortchanged in the purchase by Clear Channel.
Shareholders said Sillerman and other executives unfairly
negotiated a better exchange for their shares than for the public
shares.
SFX Entertainment settled the case by agreeing to give Class
A holders an extra $34.5 million, according to court papers.
In 2000, Sillerman pledged $15 million to Long Island
University's Southampton College, which included $10 million for
scholarships and $5 million to renovate and expand its library.
He is a chancellor of the college and a member of its board.
Bear Stearns Cos., the sixth-largest securities firm, is
advising Sillerman. Provident Financial Management and the Salter
Group are advising Lisa Marie.
--With reporting by Chitra Somayaji and Greg Baumann in New York
and Alex Armitage in Los Angeles. Editor: Mirabella, Baumann.
Story illustration: To see stories about the media industry,
see {TNI MEDIA BN <GO>}. For more information on Elvis
Presley Enterprises, see: elvis.com.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Alan Mirabella at (1)(212) 893-4149 or
amirabella@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at (1)(212) 893-3504 or emoody@bloomberg.net. |
