Lisa Marie is Selling Out.

[ontheEdgeof17]

By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Lisa Marie Presley is keeping Graceland but selling the bulk of the Elvis estate, including rights to her father's name and image, in a deal worth approximately $100 million.

Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. announced an agreement Thursday to sell 85 percent of its assets to businessman Robert F.X. Sillerman, founder of music and sports promoter SFX Entertainment.


The Presley estate brought in almost $45 million last year. Sillerman said more aggressive marketing, supported by capital raised through a new publicly traded company, can make Elvis an even bigger earner.


Presley occupies a unique place in American pop culture, and "I don't think there's much likelihood his influence is going to wane anytime in my lifetime," Sillerman said by telephone from New York, where he runs the Sillerman Companies.


As Presley's only child, Lisa Marie is the sole heir to the estate, most of which is now to become part of a publicly traded company that will be called CKX Inc.


The agreement will pay her $53 million in cash and absolve her of $25 million in debts owed by the estate. She also is to get shares in the new company expected to be worth more than $20 million.


Lisa Marie will retain possession of her father's home, its more than 13 acres of land and many of her father's "personal effects," an announcement on the agreement said.


"For the past few years, I've been looking for someone to join forces with to expand the many facets of (Elvis Presley Enterprises), to take it to new levels internationally and to make it an even greater force in the entertainment industry," Ms. Presley, also a singer, said in a statement.


Tours of Graceland, which gets 650,000 visitors a year, will continue unchanged. The throngs of fans drawn to Memphis each August on the anniversary of Presley's 1977 death will notice little different, Sillerman said.


Although Elvis already ranks No. 1 on the Forbes magazine list of top-earning dead celebrities, Sillerman said new markets and business opportunities may be available, including abroad.


"Does it make sense to invest in Elvis Presley enterprises in Japan? Does it make sense in Germany? Are there things that can be done in other jurisdictions in the United States?" he said. "The answer to some of the questions is obviously yes, we just don't know which ones."


Sillerman said the staff at Graceland will remain in place.


Elvis Presley Enterprises was created in 1980 by Priscilla Presley, the singer's ex-wife and mother of Lisa Marie, who was still a child then. She is to remain as a consultant to the new owners.


Sillerman founded SFX Entertainment in 1977 and ran the company until it was bought by Clear Channel Communications in 2000. He said he expected the sale to wrap up within two months, pending standard regulatory approval.

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She's keeping Graceland, but selling her father's name? HARSH and uncalled for!

[GODDESS6]

this is awful!!!~ OT: my ma wanted 2 name me after her, but my dad was like no freakin' way!!! ~ LOL

[Nixxxed]

Great. All the world needs is more crappy Elvis memorabilia, or Elvis popping up all over stupid commercials, like they did to poor Frank Sinatra this year.

I hope she uses the money she's making to finally restore Graceland. My family stopped in Memphis to see it one year on our way to visit family in east Tennessee. That place is a dump! (And it smells...)

[dissention]

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

She's keeping Graceland, but selling her father's name? HARSH and uncalled for!

Businesswise, she's a dolt. I simply can't believe she'd be stupid enough to sell the rights to her father's name and image. The money she'll lose in the future is astronomical.

[Nixxxed]

Originally Posted by dissention

Businesswise, she's a dolt. I simply can't believe she'd be stupid enough to sell the rights to her father's name and image. The money she'll lose in the future is astronomical.

Just businesswise? She married Michael Jackson, so I say she's a dolt ... period. And I didn't like her album, either. And in additon to the name & image rights, I also read in another story that she sold the music rights. Is she unaware how successful the last 2 Elvis "#1s" collections were? Dolt! Dolt! Dolt!

By the way, I'm gonna laugh when MJ buys all this from the dude she sold it to. So, he'll end up with everything he wanted in the beginning (assuming he's not in jail, of course...).

[amber]

Wow! It's amazing how little i care! Also, she's getting a hefty chunk o change, and she will own stock in the company, so i'm sure she had accountants, analysts, whoever, check out the deal and it probably is a good deal.

[sparky]

She probably just doesn't want to be bothered. And I assume the deal is offering her some unreal tax advantages. I don't know if she is a crappy business person or not. It looks strange to sell a company for less than it's gross annual revenue, though. For the record, I like LMP. And I liked her record. She's a tough broad. Taste for crap in men, but she is scrappy, and I like that.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by dissention

Businesswise, she's a dolt. I simply can't believe she'd be stupid enough to sell the rights to her father's name and image. The money she'll lose in the future is astronomical.

I know. Does she need the cash for Scientology?

[amber]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

I know. Does she need the cash for Scientology?

So, is that really a bad deal? with the stock and everything?

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Nixxxed

By the way, I'm gonna laugh when MJ buys all this from the dude she sold it to.

Ah yes, sweet sweet irony what a loser she is.

[skcin]

I was shocked when I heard this, she's always been all about keeping the family legacy within the family - or so she said. Whatever. So when will the first Elvis Nike ad come out?

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by skcin

So when will the first Elvis Nike ad come out?

Exactly what I was thinking!

Hillary

[seeker007nmss]

Originally Posted by amber

So, is that really a bad deal? with the stock and everything?

Yes....Yes it is a bad deal. She is beyond Dolt. She has gone all the way to end of the alphebet to ZOLT.

[amber]

Originally Posted by seeker007nmss

Yes....Yes it is a bad deal. She is beyond Dolt. She has gone all the way to end of the alphebet to ZOLT.

Why? She's getting hella cash, debt removal, and she has stock options. And now she doesn't have to deal with it. Actually, why is the estate more than 25 million in debt, is what i really want to know.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by amber

Why? She's getting hella cash, debt removal, and she has stock options. And now she doesn't have to deal with it. Actually, why is the estate more than 25 million in debt, is what i really want to know.

I don't know why the estate's in debt, but I figure that if she hadn't sold the rights to his image and everything else, she would eventually have enough money off of that to pay off the debt. I would think that would happen in no time at all. I wonder if those people she sold everything to are going to wind up richer. Y'all think so?

And another thing--does his wife have absolutely no say in this? She could have at least advised Lisa Marie against this, right?

Hillary