There's No Business Like the Michael Jackson Business

It looks like Philip Anschutz's AEG will get another piece of the Michael Jackson pie. According to the Associated Press, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff has approved a deal for the company to exhibit the late singer's personal memorabilia in a multicity exhibition being curated by Arts and Exhibitions International, an organization that has presented similar tributes to Princess Diana and King Tut.

AEG would split the profits of the shows—which are scheduled to begin at AEG International's O2 Arena in London—with the Jackson family.

The Examiner, which is owned by Anschutz, wrote gushingly of the event, which it described as follows:

"The show will open in London's O2 Arena, where Jackson had been scheduled before his death to kick off his new tour.

"The O2 arena is a state-of-the-art venue with sight-lines from every angle, crystal clear acoustics, obscenely comfy seating, wide concourses between aisles, and a huge variety of snack and drink options to enjoy throughout the show.

"The arena itself sounds quite special with bars, restaurants, and movies, and apparently an interactive museum of popular music. They've even made sure to add lots of bathroom facilities—548 toilets."

(Itals are theirs, of course. And a side note: Nowhere in the Examiner's take on Jackson or O2 does it explicitly remind readers that Anshutz owns the paper and website, as well as just about everything else mentioned in the story.)

As Portfolio.com reported earlier this month, AEG is heavily invested in Jackson's legacy. The company had been preparing Jackson's comeback concerts in London and was talking about a possible world tour when Jackson died of an apparent overdose of the anesthetic Propofol, allegedly administered by Dr. Conrad Murray, a personal physician paid by AEG.

Since the singer's death, AEG has locked in a deal to co-produce (with Sony) This Is It, a partially 3-D concert movie culled from 100 hours of rehearsal footage of the singer shot in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which is also owned by AEG. The movie is scheduled to open October 28 and will probably play near you in a a Regal Cinema theater, a chain owned by...(say it with me) Phil Anchutz.