Michael Jackson: Neverland Ranch 'Sold to Billionaire for $22m'

The late pop star Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch has reportedly sold for a quarter of its original asking price to a billionaire investor.

Ron Burkle, Jackson's former friend, recently bought the Los Olivos, California estate, his spokesman said, reports BBC.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed he paid $22m (£16.2m) for Neverland, citing public records and three people familiar with the deal.

In 2015, the 2,700-acre (1,100 hectare) complex was first identified for $100m.

Neverland, north of the city of Santa Barbara, has been on and off the market since then, most recently listed last year for a lower price of $31m.

For Neverland, which he named after a fictional island where children never grow up in JM Barrie's Peter Pan novel, Jackson originally paid around $19.5m.

Neverland was purchased by the Thriller singer in 1987, making it his home at the height of his fame.

He converted the ranch into an entertainment center, constructing an on-site zoo and fairground where he entertained children and their families on a regular basis.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Neverland became the centre of various investigations into child sexual assault allegations against Jackson.

Jackson denied allegations by Santa Barbara prosecutors that he had used Neverland as a fantasy world to groom young boys.

In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of allegations he abused a 13-year-old boy at the ranch.

Never did Jackson return to Neverland. Four years later, Jackson died in another Los Angeles home in June 2009 after suffering a drug overdose-induced cardiac arrest.

Jackson has been the subject of further reports of violence since his passing, including those made in 2019 in a documentary called Leaving Neverland.

Neverland has been rebranded as Sycamore Valley Ranch and has undergone extensive redevelopment since Jackson's death.

Mr Burkle's spokesman said the businessman saw the investment as a land banking opportunity.

While looking at another site, he spotted the estate from the air and contacted Tom Barrack, the founder of the real-estate investment firm Colony Capital LLC, to seal the deal.

Mr Burkle, 68, is the co-founder and managing partner of a private investment company called Yucaipa Companies, LLC. According to a profile by the American business journal Forbes, his net worth was valued at $1.4bn as of 24 December 2020.