Los Angeles » Michael Jackson the singer was also Michael Jackson the billion-dollar business.

Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the U.S. and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, the "King of Pop" died Thursday at age 50 reportedly awash in about $400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback tour that was to begin in London after well over a decade of scandal.

But his death could yield a financial bonanza more lucrative than any comeback ever could, as fans snap up his music and memorabilia and perhaps one day get the chance to tour his Neverland home.

"Quite frankly, he may be worth more dead than alive," said Jerry Reisman, general counsel for the Hit Factory, a recording studio where Jackson produced his best-selling album "Thriller."

Jackson's death leaves a multitude of questions about a financial empire that included his own music, as well a 50 percent stake in a library that held the rights to songs by the Beatles. It isn't known yet how his estate will be divided and who the beneficiaries will be.

This much is clear, Jackson's heirs, music labels and opportunists will probably be mining his legacy for decades to come.

First will come questions about Jackson's sold-out "This is It" tour in London, which was to be a marathon, 50-gig show that gave him a shot at redemption.

Eager fans spent more than $90 million on tickets but the calamity of his death has left Los Angeles-based tour promoters AEG Live, which operates the 02 Arena where Jackson was to have performed, with a colossal problem. In addition to the money taken in by ticket sales, which must be refunded, the company had already paid Jackson millions and spent millions more getting ready for the planned July 13 premiere.

AEG Live said in a statement Friday that it would advise ticket holders early next week on how to get refunds, adding that fans should hold onto their ticket vouchers and proofs of purchase.

With all the questions surrounding Jackson, his death may parallel that of the music industry's original King -- Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42.

Like Jackson, Presley hadn't had a hit album in years. At the end of his life, he was mostly relying on royalties from his past hits and doing shows in Las Vegas. But in death he became a moneymaking phenomenon.

As for Jackson, in his prime the moonwalking pop star drove the growth of music videos, vaulting cable channel MTV into the popular mainstream after its launch in 1981. His 1982 hit "Thriller," still the second best-selling U.S. album of all time, spawned a John Landis-directed music video that MTV played every hour on the hour.

In 1991, he signed a $65 million recording deal with Sony. One of Jackson's shrewdest deals at the height of his fame in 1985 was the $47.5 million acquisition of ATV Music, which owned the copyright to songs written by the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The catalog provided Jackson a steady stream of income and the ability to afford a lavish lifestyle.

But the bombshell hit in 1993 when he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy. "That kind of represents the beginning of the walk down a tragic path, financially, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, legally," said Michael Levine, his publicist at the time.

He settled with the boy's family, but other accounts of his alleged pedophilia began to emerge.

When he ran into further financial problems, he agreed to a deal with Sony in 1995 to merge ATV with Sony's library of songs and sold Sony music publishing rights for $95 million. Then in 2001, he used his half of the ATV assets as collateral to secure $200 million in loans from Bank of America.