Private firm to manage Leibovitz debt, portfolio

Annie Leibovitz, the photographer who mismanaged her fortune so badly that she faced losing legal rights to some of pop culture's most enduring images, has reached a long-term agreement with a private investment firm to help manage her debt and market her vast portfolio, The Associated Press reports.

Leibovitz, 60, will retain total control of her multimillion-dollar portfolio under the deal she signed with Colony Capital LLC of Santa Monica, Calif., said Richard Nanula, a principal with the firm.

Under the agreement, Colony will become the photographer's sole creditor and help market her archive of provocative images such as a nude John Lennon cuddling with a clothed Yoko Ono hours before his death, as well as a nude and very pregnant Demi Moore.

The specific terms of the new deal were not disclosed, but Nanula said "it pays off all the Art Capital loan. . . . It cleans up the rest of her balance sheet."