Dead celebrities can still make millions

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Even in the afterlife, some celebrities remain big-time moneymakers.

Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Kurt Cobain, Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe continue to earn enviable incomes from the grave, according to Forbes magazine.

Presley, who died in 1977, raked in an estimated $52 million last year. Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994, generated about $50 million. Most of that came when his widow, Courtney Love, sold 25 percent of Nirvana’s song catalog in April.

Einstein, who has been dead for more than 50 years, took in about $20 million in 2005, Forbes estimates. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem controls the famed thinker’s estate and collects $5 million a year from the use of his images. The university also earns royalties from Disney’s line of Baby Einstein toys and videos, Forbes reports, which generated $400 million in sales last year.

Warhol died in 1987. Still, he earned $16 million last year through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which owns his estate. Monroe, who died in 1962, generated $8 million in 2005.

? ? ? ? ?

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Industrial production unexpectedly fell in May, reflecting weakness in manufacturing, as the economy flashed more signals of a spring slowdown.

The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that output at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities dropped by 0.1 percent last month following an increase of 0.8 percent in April. Analysts had been expecting a small 0.2 percent rise.

The weakness last month reflected a 1.3 percent drop in production of autos and auto parts as the U.S. auto industry continued to struggle with soaring gasoline prices that have sapped demand for sport utility vehicles.

? ? ? ? ?

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) ? Bill Gates plans to withdraw from day-to-day duties at Microsoft Corp., so he can focus on his charitable foundation while others run the company he co-founded and guided to industry dominance and vast personal wealth.

Gates, 50, said Thursday he will remain the company’s chairman after transferring his daily responsibilities over a two-year period.

“This was a hard decision for me,” said Gates, who founded the world’s largest software company with childhood friend Paul Allen. “I’m very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging.”

Microsoft’s Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will assume Gate’s title as chief software architect and begin working with Gates on overseeing all software technical design.

Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and will work with Gates in those areas.