So, were AEG insured?
There has been much speculation as to what Jackson's death and its impact on their grand Jacko comeback plans will mean for the US tour promoter. Aside from any lost investment, they will also have to cover the administrative cost of making thousands of refunds, plus face the prospect of having one of their premium venues, London's main O2 arena, empty for at least a couple of months until the Jacko slots can be reallocated to other events.
AEG have said very little about the whole thing so far, other than to pay tribute to Jackson and express their condolences to his family and fans. The big question, of course, is whether AEG were insured and if so whether the insurers will pay out. Some of the gigs were definitely insured - via Lloyds Of London - but AEG never said whether they'd managed to get insurance for the full fifty night run. Plus there's the question as to whether the insurers will pay up - that will most likely depend on cause of death, and any knowledge among either AEG or Jackson's people of any existing condition which may have caused his cardiac arrest (eg some are speculating a long held eating disorder may have had a part to play).
AEG top man Randy Phillips has now commented on the speculation around his company's insurance situation, though in a bit of a non-committal way. He was quoted over the weekend thus: "We had pretty good coverage, but a lot of it is going to depend on the toxicology results. We need to know what the cause of death was".
