Michael Jackson moving to Europe

Michael Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since he was acquitted of child abuse charges a year ago, is moving to Europe and will begin performing again.

The pop megastar has also sacked his business managers and hired a New York firm to oversee his affairs.

An announcement yesterday from his spokeswoman Raymone Bain said that she had been named general manager of the new Michael Jackson Company, which will replace Jackson’s MJJ Productions.

She said Jackson was also planning public appearances.

“He is reviewing numerous offers to tour musically, which he plans to embark upon within the next several months,” the announcement said.

“Mr Jackson has previously announced plans to record an album which he predicts will be released in 2007.”

Bain’s statement said that Jackson had severed ties with his Bahraini lawyers and his long-time accountants and business managers, Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan. She said he had hired Londell McMillan and The McMillan firm, “known for business restructurings and turnarounds”.

In a deposition during a lawsuit about to go to trial in Santa Monica, California, Jackson was asked about his long-time business manager Alan Whitman and said that he thought he had never met him.

The revamping, which Bain’s release called “the first of a sweeping restructuring of his personal and business affairs”, is an apparent attempt by Jackson to salvage his financial affairs.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Bain said Jackson would maintain a house in Bahrain but it would not be his primary base. She said he decided to move to Europe “mainly because he will be more accessible there for meetings with people in the music business”.

“He is very serious about his music,” she said. “When you are a creative person and the creative juices are flowing again and you’re about to embark on new projects, you want to make sure your organisation is running smoothly.”

Jackson, who is currently in Ireland “on personal business”, would continue to make appointments as he built a new management team, Bain said.

She said that the McMillan firm has been involved in handling the affairs of other music artists including Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z.

Jackson had been rumoured to be on the verge of bankruptcy for some time. But in April his Bahraini lawyers announced that he had restructured his finances in a deal with Sony Corporation, which shares ownership of his valuable music catalogue that includes the Beatles’ hits.

Details of the deal were never confirmed by Jackson but published reports said he had negotiated a £180m (€260m) debt refinancing plan that would deprive him of part of his share of the Sony ATV music catalogue which is said to be worth £560m (€811m).

Jackson acquired the catalogue in 1985 for £26m (€37m) but sold half of it to Sony when he confronted other financial problems.

Jackson recently had to shutter his elaborate Neverland ranch in Santa Ynez because of unpaid salaries and insurance fees.