THE MICHAEL JACKSON WATCH WATCH:

THE MICHAEL JACKSON WATCH WATCH: Fox News has an article on Michael Jackson’s apparently grim finances these days. How bad is it for the gloved one?:

Last year he was forced to put up a $2 million diamond watch in order to borrow money from a bank.

This revelation comes at a crucial time in Jackson’s roller-coaster career. It’s already been acknowledged that he’s used the Beatles song catalog to borrow $200 million from Sony Music. At the same time, Jackson is struggling with poor sales of his latest album, Invincible, and Internet rumors that Sony is ignoring the album in order to force Jackson’s hand in turning over the catalog.

This column reported several weeks ago that Jackson was in constant touch with Richard Rowe, head of Sony Music Publishing, who wants to negotiate a settlement on the loan and take possession of the Beatles catalog. Sony issued a strangely worded denial at the time, saying it did not seek “to buy” ATV Music Publishing from Jackson. But, as a Sony business insider confirmed for me, “foreclose” would have been the appropriate word since Sony technically already owns the songs.

Now the news that Jackson, who lives on borrowed money, needed to pawn a diamond watch.