The Weeknd is reportedly in “early” talks to land a whopping $1 billion for his music catalogue.
According to Bloomberg, the New York private equity firm, Lyric Capital Group, is negotiating a landmark deal with the Blinding Lights hitmaker, which would see the artist – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – free up funds while keeping ownership of his music with his stake in his publishing rights and master recordings used as collateral.
The Hurry Up Tomorrow filmmaker, 35, has been toying with the idea of giving up his stage name – suggesting he’s keen to pursue other creative outlets.
After previously speaking about his desire to get rid of his persona, he suggested Hurry Up Tomorrow would be his last project under the moniker.
He told The Hollywood Reporter in May: “We’re brainstorming it right now. I feel like we don’t have any definite answers, but I haven’t dropped it yet because I’m on tour, so I’ve still gotta get out there and see the fans.”
He insisted he was “getting there” in the process of ditching The Weeknd.
Tesfaye told People magazine: “Have I started? Yeah, it’s getting there.
“I mean, I’m on tour right now, so I can’t fully retire it.”
The Grammy-winning star was pressed on whether the idea has brought up any emotions, to which he replied: “Oh, I can’t tell you too much.”
The Timeless star admitted he finds the idea of being famous “weird”.
He said: “I’ve always wanted my work to be famous. I don’t know if I ever wanted to be famous, so that whole skill set I haven’t really mastered and I don’t plan to.
“It’s a weird situation, but here we are.”