section_path: Life and career/Final years, financial problems, Thriller 25 and This Is It (2005–2009)
section_name: Final years, financial problems, Thriller 25 and This Is It (2005–2009)
paragraph_text: Final years, financial problems, Thriller 25 and This Is It (2005–2009)
  
  After the trial, Jackson became reclusive. In June 2005, he moved to Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah. In early 2006, it was announced that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain startup, Two Seas Records. Nothing came of the deal, and the Two Seas CEO, Guy Holmes, later said it was never finalized. Holmes also found that Jackson was on the verge of bankruptcy and was involved in 47 ongoing lawsuits. By September 2006, Jackson was no longer affiliated with Two Seas.
  
  In April 2006, Jackson agreed to use a piece of his ATV catalog stake, then worth about $1 billion, as collateral against his $270 million worth of loans from Bank of America. Bank of America had sold the loans to Fortress Investments, an investment company that buys distressed loans, the year before. As part of the agreement, Fortress Investments provided Jackson a new loan of $300 million with reduced interest payments (equivalent to $ 450 million in 2023). Sony Music would have the option to buy half of his stake, or about 25% of the catalog, at a set price. Jackson's financial managers had urged him to shed part of his stake to avoid bankruptcy. The main house at Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure, while Jackson lived in Bahrain at the hospitality of Abdullah. At least thirty of Jackson's employees had not been paid on time and were owed $306,000 in back wages. Jackson was ordered to pay $100,000 in penalties. Jackson never returned to Neverland after his acquittal.
  
  In mid-2006, Jackson moved to Grouse Lodge, a residential recording studio near Rosemount, County Westmeath, Ireland. There, he began work on a new album with the American producers will.i.am and Rodney Jenkins. That November, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera crew into the studio in Westmeath. On November 15, Jackson briefly joined in on a performance of "We Are the World" at the World Music Awards in London, his last public performance, and accepted the Diamond Award for sales of 100 million records. He returned to the US in December, settling in Las Vegas. That month, he attended James Brown 's funeral in Augusta, Georgia, where he gave a eulogy calling Brown his greatest inspiration.
  
  In 2007, Jackson and Sony bought another music publishing company, Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom. The deal gave Jackson the rights to songs by Eminem and Beck, among others. In a brief interview, Jackson said he had no regrets about his career despite his problems and "deliberate attempts to hurt ". That March, Jackson visited a US Army post in Japan, Camp Zama, to greet more than 3,000 troops and their families. As of September, Jackson was still working on his next album, which he never completed.
  
  In 2008, for the 25th anniversary of Thriller, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25, with two remixes released as singles: " The Girl Is Mine 2008 " and " Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 ". For Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of greatest hits albums, King of Pop, with different tracklists for different regions. That July, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson had used as collateral for his loans. Fortress sold Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. The deal earned him $35 million. In 2009, Jackson arranged to sell a collection of his memorabilia of more than 1,000 items through Julien's Auction House, but canceled the auction in April.
  
  In March 2009, amid speculation about his finances and health, Jackson announced a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, at a press conference at the O2 Arena. The shows were to be his first major concerts since the HIStory World Tour in 1997. Jackson suggested he would retire after the shows. The initial plan was for ten concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, the president and chief executive of AEG Live, predicted the first ten dates would earn Jackson £50 million.
  
  The London residency was increased to fifty dates after record-breaking ticket sales; more than one million were sold in less than two hours. The concerts were to run from July 13, 2009, to March 6, 2010. Jackson moved to Los Angeles, where he rehearsed in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of the choreographer Kenny Ortega, whom he had worked with during his previous tours. Rehearsals took place at the Forum and the Staples Center owned by AEG. By this point, Jackson's debt had grown to almost $500 million. By the time of his death, he was three or four months behind payments on his home in San Fernando Valley. The Independent reported that Jackson planned a string of further ventures designed to recoup his debts, including a world tour, a new album, films, a museum and a casino.