Justin Timberlake Sells Entire Music Catalog for $100 Million

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

First, he brought "SexyBack." Now, apparently, he's sold it to the highest bidder

Boy band frontman turned R&B-infused pop star, Justin Timberlake has sold his entire music catalog — including the aforementioned hit single — to Hipgnosis Song Management.

Terms of the deal, which makes the 41-year-old 10-time Grammy Award-winner the youngest songwriter to have sold his entire catalog, were not disclosed, but reporting from The Wall Street Journal placed its estimated worth to be just over $100 million.

"Justin Timberlake is not only one of the most influential artists of the last 20 years but he's also one of the greatest songwriters of all time," said Merck Mercuriadis, founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management, in a press release announcing the acquisition. "His hit songs including "Cry Me A River," "Rock Your Body," "SexyBack," "My Love," "What Goes Around… Comes Around," "Suit & Tie," "Mirrors" and "Can't Stop The Feeling" are amongst the most iconic of the period."

The deal gives the company “100% of all of Timberlake’s copyright, ownership and financial interests of the Writer and Publisher’s Share of Public Performance income, and the catalog of musical compositions written by Justin Timberlake”.

Timberlake, for his part, seemed pleased with the deal.

“I am excited to be partnering with Merck and Hipgnosis – he values artists and their creative work and has always been a strong supporter of songwriters and storytelling," the singer said in a statement. “I look forward to entering this next chapter.”

Over the course of his solo career, Timberlake has sales of nearly 90 million (88), and the agreement includes copyrights to approximately 200 songs that he wrote or co-wrote.

He may be the youngest, but Timberlake is far from the first superstar to embrace the trend of selling his catalog in recent years.

Hipgnosis, backed by private-equity firm Blackstone, has been a growing player in that arena since last October when it entered into a partnership in which Blackstone provided approximately $1 billion in funds to acquire more music rights and catalogs.

In January, it acquired 80% of country music superstar Kenny Chesney’s music catalog, and in March it announced a deal to acquire part of Leonard Cohen’s legendary songwriting catalog.