The Neverland ranch of the late pop star Michael Jackson has reportedly been sold to a billionaire investor Ron Burkle for a quarter of its initial asking price. Never say never. Michael Jackson’s troubled Neverland Ranch has found a new owner.
Ron Burkle, a former friend and close associate of Jackson, recently bought the property in Los Olivos, California, his spokesman said.
He paid $ 22m (£ 16.2m) for the ranch Neverland, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing public records with three people familiar with the deal.
The Neverland Ranch
The 2,700-hectare site was first listed for $ 100m in 2015. From that point forward, the spread languished on the market. In 2017, it returned for sale asking US$67 million ($88 million) following a massive US$33 million ($43 million) price cut. In 2019, it was listed for US$31 million ($41 million), the Journal added.
Since then Neverland, north of downtown Santa Barbara, has been open and out from the market, recently numbered last year at a low price of $ 31m.
Jackson originally paid $ 19.5m for Neverland, which he named after a fictional island where children did not grow up in JM Barrie’s story of Peter Pan.
The Thriller singer bought Neverland in 1987, making it his home during the height of his fame.
Beyond the property’s sprawling scale, it is also jam-packed with amenities — such as a 50-seat movie theatre, a basketball court and several guesthouses — which have long been the subject of dark stories.
He turned the farm into a place of entertainment, building a zoo and a playground on the site, where he often entertained children and their families.
Controversies Surrounding The Property
In the 1990s and 2000s, Neverland became the center of various investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson.
Jackson has denied allegations by Santa Barbara’s prosecutors that he used Neverland as a dream world to train and groom young boys.
In 2005, Jackson was tried and was finally acquitted of all the charges of abusing a 13-year-old boy on a farm.
Jackson did not return to Neverland. Four years later, in June 2009, Jackson died in a home in Los Angeles after a heart attack caused by a drug overdose.
Since his death Jackson has been the subject of allegations of abuse, including those made in a documentary called Leaving Neverland in 2019.
Neverland has been renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch and has made significant progress since Jackson’s death.
A spokesman for Mr Burkle said the businessman saw the investment as an opportunity to lease land.
He saw a legacy in the air while looking elsewhere and contacted Tom Barrack, founder of real estate company Colony Capital LLC, to strengthen its sales.
Mr Burkle, 68, is one of the founders and co-founders of Yucaipa Companies, LLC, an independent investment company. His 24 December 2020 income is estimated at $ 1.4bn, according to the profile of American business magazine Forbes.
