Associated Press Writer Robert Jablon, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 57 mins ago



Michael Jackson has given up title to his Neverland ranch, transferring the deed to a company he partly controls.

The singer filed a grant deed on the ranch Monday that makes the new owner an entity called the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. LLC, Tom Pearson of the Santa Barbara County clerk-recorder's office said Wednesday.

Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. is a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction who was not authorized to speak on the record and requested anonymity.

The person could not say what would become of the 2,500-acre property in the bucolic, oak-studded hills of Santa Barbara County's wine country, 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

A call to an attorney for Jackson, L. Londell McMillan, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Jackson had gone into default on the $24.5 million he owes on the property and had faced foreclosure before Colony Capital bailed him out earlier this year by purchasing his loan.

The fact that he partly owns the company that he "gave it up to" is most likely going to benefit him in the long run.

LOL, I posted it before you did. But it's alright. Thanks for getting the word out. No one replied to my thread.

[I know... but, you were first http://prince.org/msg/8/288850 , so... mine gets the ... - June7]