Photo: @michaeljackson/X
The ranch finally sold in December 2020 for just $22 million, a fraction of its original asking price, to billionaire businessman Ron Burkle, a longtime family friend of the Jacksons.
Burkle’s spokesperson said he bought it “as a land banking opportunity.”, according to a report by AFP.
The 2,700-acre estate also had a zoo housing elephants, a giraffe, orangutans, and Jackson’s pet chimpanzee, Bubbles, according to NBC News. The 2,700-acre property eventually reverted to its old name, Sycamore Valley Ranch, and went up for sale in 2015 at an asking price of $100 million, according to Vogue.
Michael Jackson , known worldwide as the “King of Pop,” was one of the best-selling music artists in history and set a record by winning 8 Grammys in a single night, mostly for his album Thriller. But fame at that scale comes with its own strange side effects, and Jackson’s life off stage was often just as talked-about as his music. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the home he built for himself in California, which was nothing like a typical celebrity mansion. Instead of just buying a big house, he built an entire private world around it, much of it influenced by his own childhood fascinations and love for fantasy: The Neverland Ranch. Jackson rebuilt it into something closer to a private theme park than a traditional home. The property included a French country-style house, a movie theatre, a train station, and a full amusement park, with a giant Ferris wheel, carousel, and bumper cars. One of its best-known features was Katherine Station, named after his mother, complete with a large floral clock. Buyers weren’t convinced.