Never say never. Michael Jackson’s troubled Neverland Ranch has found new ownership.
Billionaire Ron Burkle, co-founder of investment firm Yucaipa Companies and a former Jackson employee, bought the property in Los Olivos, California, for $ 22 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In addition to holding himself about 2,700 acres and a nearly 12,000-square-foot mansion – among the many buildings on the estate – Burkle also got a deal. The estate first came on the market in 2015 for a whopping $ 100 million.
From that moment on, the spread in the market languished. In 2017 it went back for sale, asking for $ 67 million after a massive $ 33 million price cut. In 2019, it was listed for $ 31 million, the Journal added.
In addition to the property’s expansive scale, it’s also packed with amenities – such as a 50-seat cinema, basketball court, and several guesthouses – that have long been the subject of dark stories.
In 2016, a report came out claiming that Jackson kept a triple locked closet in a guesthouse full of photos of naked boys and children’s toys. More recently, the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland” focused on the stories of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who claimed that Jackson sexually assaulted them as children at Neverland Ranch, as well as other locations.
Jackson, who died of an acute drug overdose in 2009 at the age of 50, stopped visiting Neverland after his 2005 acquittal for child abuse. While Neverland was up for sale, it was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch in an apparent effort to strip the property of its troubling legacy. Jackson bought it in 1987 for about $ 19.5 million and gave the famous “Peter Pan” fantasy kickstarts by adding an amusement park, which has since been removed.
Jackson’s estate then co-owned Neverland with a fund managed by the real estate investment company Colony Capital. According to the Journal, Jackson defaulted on a loan secured by the ranch and Colony bought the note in 2008, turning the title into a joint venture. Burkle was a consultant to Jackson on business matters in the mid-2000s, the Journal added, at a time when Jackson was trying to avoid financial ruin, in part as a result of his lavish lifestyle.
The property is located 30 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara and has a total of 22 buildings, including a three-bedroom guest house with a fireplace.