http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 22373.html

I can understand $150m even for Jay-Z being a bit of a gamble in business terms these days, but isn't $200m for what they're talking about with Jacko here actually a bit cheap comparatively? It's covering some amount of media formats

Well it would have been dwarfed by the billion dollar offer that was made to ABBA. I thought that Barbara Streisand turned down a humungous deal earlier this year to work in LA for three years. She said she did not need the money.

As for the deal it is not such a gamble. The biggest artist of all time getting a deal for a range of formats and merchandise. A pretty safe bet, overall but the sums are large that is all.

I know it's not a real gamble, I thought it was cheap

Yes but if the sales are better than expected the family can gain so much more as well. Probably a good thing knowing his excessive spending habits. This will set the family up for life.