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Justin Bieber surprised his fans when he sold his share of his music catalogue, containing over 290 titles, to Hipgnosis Songs for an estimated $200 million in January 2023. While he did not reveal his reasoning for the sale, a new TMZ documentary reported that the pop star made this decision to combat his financial problems, alleging Bieber had been "broke" at the time.
On May 14, 2025, TMZ released its latest documentary, titled TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber, on Hulu, which reportedly focuses on the pop star's "mental health, marriage, money troubles, his church, and his career."
According to the documentary, a source revealed to TMZ that Justin Bieber decided to sell his music catalogue in 2023 because he was on the verge of alleged "financial collapse" in 2022. The source also claimed that his manager, Scooter Braun, advised the singer against his decision and asked that he wait till after January 2023 to get a tax break, but Bieber decided against that.
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The news of Justin Bieber's alleged money troubles was met with varied responses on X. One user claimed the singer would "blow through" the $200 million he got for his music catalogue, writing:
"And he’ll probably blow through that money in 5 years and end up on skid row in LA."
Some users speculated how the pop singer ended up allegedly going broke.
"How can he be broke after making so many millions?. Somebody must have stole from him," one user questioned.
"I mean if you don’t manage your money right it doesn’t matter how much you got if you spend more than what you had. Also why didn’t he invest!" another person exclaimed.
"It was some concerts he wasnt able to make so he owed a lot of money to the events people. Ian carrol has a good video about it go check it out," someone else theorized.
"That's sad, but also, he probably didn't make as much money as predicted to be able to go broke like that," another user wrote.
However, others claimed that Justin Bieber having $200 million in assets is a far cry from alleged financial troubles.
"Hot take: you aren’t even close to broke if you still have $200 million in assets you can sell," one person tweeted.
"Whatever the reason, $200 million to escape being "broke" is a level of broke most of us can only dream of," another user added.
"200 mil? I’ll take that," someone else commented.
Justin Bieber's reps deny reports of "financial distress"
In January 2023, Justin Bieber decided to sell his share of his music catalogue for his titles released before December 31, 2021, including his publishing copyrights and his master recordings, to Hipgnosis Song. According to Billboard, the sales earned the pop singer an estimated $200 million.
While he is not the first artist to sell his music catalogue, he is one of the youngest artists to do so at 28. According to Variety, Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber's manager, said in a statement at the time:
“Justin is truly a once in a generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal. For 15 years I have been grateful to witness this journey and today I am happy for all those involved. Justin’s greatness is just beginning.”
The news of the sale, compounded with Bieber's cancelled 2023 "Justice World Tour" following his Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis, sparked debates about the rapper's alleged financial troubles. An April 2025 article by The Hollywood Reporter alleged that Bieber owed AEG (the tour promoter) over $20 million for the canceled tour.
However, Justin Bieber's representatives renounced all rumors of the singer's "alleged financial distress" in a statement to the publication, saying:
“Any source that is trying to sell you a story about alleged financial distress … either doesn’t understand the entertainment industry or, more likely, is trying to paint an unflattering portrait of Justin, which bears no resemblance to reality."
In other news, Justin Bieber has raised concerns following his recent cryptic social media posts where he spoke about his religious beliefs, rats, and fishing in Alaska. The 13-post carousel on Instagram was reportedly deleted minutes after it was uploaded.
