POP/ROCK - March 20, 1996

Thinking Big: Pop star Michael Jackson announced a multimillion-dollar show business deal Tuesday with Saudi Arabia’s richest investor, proclaiming that the duo “will combine human and financial resources to be successful in all phases of the global entertainment revolution.” Jackson and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, announced the joint venture, called Kingdom Entertainment, in Paris Tuesday. They said their intention was to focus on “traditional family values” and use global family entertainment to unite generations and “bring peace, brotherhood and love to the world.” The partners said they planned projects in a wide range of areas including animation, theme parks, theme restaurants, character licensing, television programming, film and multimedia. One of their first joint activities will be to sponsor Jackson’s world “HIStory” tour, and aides said that some projects would be tied to al-Waleed’s investment in Euro Disney. Beyond that, they disclosed no financial details and said specific projects would be announced in coming weeks.