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The Estate of Elvis Presley &
The Elvis Presley Trust
Elvis Presley died at Graceland
on August 16, 1977. His will appointed his father, Vernon
Presley, who had long handled Elvis's personal, non-career
business affairs, as executor and trustee. The beneficiaries
were Elvis's grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley; his father, Vernon
Presley; and his only child, Lisa Marie Presley. The will
provided that Vernon Presley could, at his discretion, provide
funds to other family members as needed. Vernon Presley died in
1979. Minnie Mae Presley died in 1980. This left Lisa Marie
Presley as the sole heir to the estate. Elvis's will stated that
her inheritance was to be held in trust for her until her
twenty-fifth birthday, February 1, 1993.
Vernon Presley's will brought
about the appointment of three co-executors/co-trustees to
succeed him. They were: the National Bank of Commerce in
Memphis, which was the bank Elvis and Vernon had done business
with; Joseph Hanks, who had been Elvis and Vernon's accountant
for a number of years; and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, who had
divorced Elvis in 1973, but had continued a close friendship
with him and was Lisa's legal guardian. Joseph Hanks retired
from his post in 1990.
Upon Lisa Presley's twenty-fifth
birthday in 1993, the trust automatically dissolved and Lisa
chose to form a new trust, The Elvis Presley Trust, to continue
the successful management of the estate, with Priscilla Presley
and the National Bank of Commerce continuing to serve as
co-trustees.
In 1998, as Lisa Marie Presley's
role in the management grew, Priscilla Presley chose to redirect
her efforts by moving to an advisory position, continuing her
close involvement and support while focusing more time on her
own ever-expanding individual pursuits as a successful actress
and businessperson.
Lisa Marie Presley became more
closely involved with the management team of The Elvis Presley
Trust and its business entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises,
Inc.(EPE), of which she was owner and Chairman of the Board
until February 2005 when she sold a major interest in the
company.
The Graceland Operation
Elvis Presley could have left
one of the great fortunes of entertainment history, had he been
one to worry about financial planning, rather than freely
enjoying and sharing his wealth as he did. While the estate he
left was by no means broke, there was a cash flow problem,
especially with Graceland costing over half a million dollars a
year in maintenance and taxes. It seemed logical for Priscilla
and the executors to open Graceland to the public. In late 1981,
they hired Jack Soden, at the time a Kansas City, Missouri
investment counselor, to plan and execute the opening of
Graceland to the public and oversee the total operation.
Graceland opened for tours on June 7, 1982.
In 1983, through a long-term
lease, EPE acquired the shopping center plaza across the street
from the mansion. From the time the plaza was built in the
sixties, it had been a typical suburban strip shopping center.
However, almost overnight after Elvis's death, it became an
unsightly blemish of tacky Elvis souvenir shops, which carried
mostly bootleg items not licensed by the Presley Estate. Upon
assuming management of the shopping center property, EPE began
policing the bootleg activities and began an overall facelift,
while continuing to honor the existing leases of the plaza
tenants. By 1987, all the leases had expired and Graceland began
major renovations, which continue to this day. In 1993,
Graceland purchased the property. Today, all shops and
attractions in what is now known as Graceland Plaza are owned
and operated by EPE. The land where Graceland visitor parking
and the airplanes exhibit are located was already owned by the
EPE. (Elvis had purchased it in 1962 and had never developed
it.)
One important development for
the Graceland visitor experience was the addition of Elvis's
Lisa Marie jet and
Hound Dog II JetStar planes, which Elvis's father had
sold in 1978. They were brought back home to Memphis in a joint
venture with the current owners and opened for on-board tours in
1984. Another major development was the opening of The Elvis
Presley Automobile Museum in Graceland Plaza in 1989.
Graceland Crossing, a
neighboring shopping center with stores that featured
Elvis-related items, situated just north of Graceland Plaza, was
built in the latter half of the 1980's and was independently
owned until Graceland purchased it in the fall of 1997 as an
addition to its visitor amenities. The next major development
was the purchase of an existing nearby hotel property,
renovating it and renaming it
Elvis
Presley's Heartbreak Hotel in 1999. Continued expansion and
enhancement of visitor facilities and the development of new
Elvis exhibition projects are planned for the Graceland complex.
Since opening to the public in
1982, Graceland has hosted millions of visitors from every state
in the union and nearly every country of the world. Prior to
Graceland's opening, there was minimal tourism trade in Memphis.
Graceland quickly became the cornerstone of the industry for the
city and the region. The Memphis tourism industry has expanded
greatly with the development of attractions such as the FedEx
Forum, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the National
Civil Rights Museum, and the Wonders Series exhibits, and with
the continued growth and development of the Beale Street
entertainment district, Memphis in May, and a host of other
attractions, museums, and special events.
Graceland welcomes over 600,000
visitors each year, is one of the five most visited home tours
in the United States, and is the most famous home in America
after The White House. In 1991, Graceland was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
The peak season for visitor ship
is Memorial Day through Labor Day. Attendance ranges from a few
hundred visitors on a weekday in the dead of winter to 2,000 -
3,500 visitors per day in the spring and early summer, to over
4,000 per day in July at the height of the travel season. The
total economic impact on the city of Memphis from Graceland
visitors is estimated to be $150 million per year or possibly
much more. A major part of that impact is that most Graceland
visitors come from outside the city, bringing new dollars into
the community, not only touring Graceland, but also patronizing
other attractions in the area as well as area hotels,
restaurants, shops and other businesses while they are in town.
Further benefiting the city is the intense worldwide publicity
that Graceland and the Elvis Presley phenomenon continually
bring to Memphis. Contributing to the local impact is the fact
that EPE employs approximately 350 people part-time and
full-time year 'round, a number that swells to as many as 450 in
the busy summer season.
Graceland visitors come from all
walks of life, all ages, all musical tastes, all income levels,
all educational backgrounds, and all parts of the world. The
demographics are broad. Over half of Graceland's visitors are
under the age of 35. Graceland is a must-see for visiting
dignitaries, touring Broadway show casts, touring rock stars,
and people of virtually every description coming to Memphis.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.
(EPE) is the corporate entity that was created by the Elvis
Presley Trust to conduct business and manage its assets. EPE was
wholly owned by the Elvis Presley Trust/Lisa Marie Presley until
2005.
In February 2005, Robert F.X.
Sillerman and his then new media and entertainment company
acquired an 85% interest in the company Elvis Presley
Enterprises, Inc., including its physical and intellectual
properties. Lisa Marie Presley retains a 15% ownership in the
company and continues to be involved, as does her mother
Priscilla. The pre-existing EPE management team remains in place
and the company's operations, including the Graceland tour,
continue uninterrupted, only with a much brighter future and
wider global outreach made possible with the new partnership.
EPE is a subsidiary of CKX, Inc., which is a publicly traded
company listed on the Nasdaq National Market System (NMS) under
the ticker symbol CKXE.
Lisa Marie Presley retains 100%
sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over
13-acre original grounds and her father's personal effects -
meaning costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc.. She
has made the mansion property and her father's personal effects
permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all
of EPE's operations.
Jack Soden is the Chief
Executive Officer of EPE and is based in the Memphis office.
Gary Hovey is Executive Vice-President/Entertainment & Music
Publishing and heads up the Los Angeles office. This top
management team is supported by the vice-presidents, directors,
managers and staff of the various departments of EPE, including
merchandise, worldwide licensing, marketing, media & creative
development, sales, accounting, operations, human resources and
the various sub-departments within these.
EPE's business extends far
beyond the Graceland operation. It includes worldwide licensing
of Elvis-related products and ventures, the development of
Elvis-related music, film, video, television and stage
productions, the ongoing development of EPE's Internet presence,
the management of significant music publishing assets and more.
The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation
Go to our
Charities homepage to learn about The Elvis Presley
Charitable Foundation.
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