UPDATE: On Sunday, June 16, Justin Bieber’s rep told PEOPLE exclusively, “Scooter Braun and SB Projects are not involved in Justin’s current business or management and will not be involved going forward. Justin is excited about the projects he is currently working on and focused is to what is in front of him.”
Justin Bieber is no longer working with his business manager, Lou Taylor, and has hired Johnny Depp’s financial manager, PEOPLE can confirm.
“They broke up a few weeks ago in May,” a source says of Bieber and Taylor. “It was a mutual and seamless transition. It didn’t fit anymore.”
Bieber, 30, merged his companies — Bieber Time Touring LLC, Justin Bieber Brands LLC and Bieber Time Merchandise — with Taylor’s Tri Star Sports And Entertainment Group in 2022.
The star’s longtime manager, Scooter Braun, is still managing the musician, according to a source. “[Bieber’s] is still under contract and won’t be out of contract for long,” they say. However, multiple sources tell PEOPLE that Braun, 42, and Bieber haven’t worked together in months.
Braun representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Lou Taylor on January 31, 2024 in West Hollywood, California.
Gregg DeGuire/Variety/Getty
Bieber has now hired Depp’s business manager, Edward White, who founded Edward White & Co. in 1976.
The California-based firm, which recently merged with Eide Bailly, provides tax and consulting services and has a client list of several Hollywood figures, including Jack Nicholson and Allen Paulson, as well as the estates of Lena Horne and Vin Scully.
“[Taylor] was supporting them in their transition with Edward White,” a source tells PEOPLE.
White has worked with Depp, 61, since 2016. In 2022, he testified in Depp’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Prior to the Depp v. Heard trial, White assisted the actor with his finances in 2017 and helped him file a lawsuit against The Management Group for mismanaging his finances.
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Johnny Depp on April 15, 2024 in London, England.
Neil P. Mockford/Getty
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Bieber’s latest move comes after he sold his 291-song catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023. Board valued the business at just over $200 million.
The move meant he sold the rights to every song he released or had an interest in until the end of 2021, including his six studio albums — My world 2.0, Under the mistletoe, believe, Purpose, Changes and Justice — including other projects My world and magazines, as well as the hit singles “Baby”, “Boyfriend”, “What Do You Mean?” “Sorry,” “Love Yourself,” “Yummy,” “Holy,” and “Peaches,” among others.
Hipgnosis now owns 100% of the profits made from Bieber’s writing and recording, as well as “neighbourhood rights”, otherwise known as the money made from any public playing of the song in stores, restaurants, etc.
His recorded masters, however, will forever remain the property of Universal Music Group.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education