Michael Jackson signed his first music deal when he was aged 11 in 1969, as part of the jackson Five.  Reputedly, says The Times, they got a “measly” 2.7% cut of their royalties.  It wasn’t until his solo album Thriller (which is still the best-selling album in history) in 1982, for which he earned $125m, this his earnings went into orbit.  The Bad world tour in 1987 grossed him a further $125m.  Jackson made some savvy investments, the most notable being the $47.5m purchase of ATV Music Publishing in 1985, which included a 250-song Beatles back catalogue.  He sold half of it to Sony/ATV Music Plublishing for $150m in 1995.  At the time of his death his estimated income was $19m a year.

How did he spend his money ?

Extravagantly and quickly.  Described as the millionaire who spent like a billionaire, Jackson died with an estimated debt of $500m with his annual outgoings thought to be $20-$30m more than his income.  He paid out £16.5m and £1.1m on two separate out of court settlements for charges of child abuse.  He also paid ex-wife Debbie Rowe £5m for custody of their two children plus a £750,000 annual payment.  He was an obessive shopper too; in 2003 he spent $4m in a single shopping spree in Las Vegas.  By 2005, he had racked up $300m in debts.

What does his death mean for his planned gigs?

AEG Live, the promoters of Jackson’s 50 planned concerts at the O2 Arena, face a bill of up to £300m for the cancelled concerts.  The firm had to self-insure at least 30 of the concerts as no one was willing to insure the full run.  The group is rumoured to be considering releasing a DVD of Jackson’s last rehearsal – filmed hours before his death – in order to recoup some of the losses.

LDV was put into administration last week and is in talks with Phones4U owner John Caudwell as a possible takeover bid.

The billionaire has asked his team to look into the company and review the situation and then will bring in new management to take the company to new life.

John sold Caudwell Group telecoms business in 2006 for £1.46 bn which at the time was the top of the market.  This will be his first step back into the industry since 2006.

John sees LDV has a lot of potential as the demand for vans overseas is still very high, particulary in third world countries he says.  He is still in early talks with pricewaterhousecoopers and hasn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement yet.

In 2003 Mr Caudwell sold his Singlepoint telecoms business to Vodafone  for £400m and Caudwell Holdings, including Phones 4U, to a private equity consortiumthree years later.

At the moment Caudwell spents most of his time working with the Caudwell Children charity which is near to the LDV Midland base.

After the sale of the Caudwell group he has invested £15m in advanced marine propulsion system and a further £100m into commercial property which are both managed by business associates.

Another firm interested in LDV is Malaysian firm Westar.  They pulled out of a deal early this month which forced LDV to go into administration but they say they are still interested in the firm.

Also another firm called Nanjing which are a chinese manufacturer which bought MG Rover in 2005 are also said to be interested in LDV.  Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group are also said to be interested.

By the looks of things it could turn into a bidding war for the LDV company.  PriceWaterHouseCoopers said it had 3 interested parties but would not comment on Caudwells approach.