Justin Bieber Splits from Business Manager Lou Taylor, Brings on Johnny Depp’s Financial Advisor
The singer began collaborating with Taylor’s firm, Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, in 2022. Justin Bieber has parted ways with his business manager, Lou Taylor, and enlisted Johnny Depp’s financial advisor, PEOPLE confirms.
“They separated a few weeks ago in May,” a source reveals about Bieber and Taylor. “It was an amicable and smooth transition. They just weren’t compatible anymore.”
Bieber, 30, linked his enterprises — Bieber Time Touring LLC, Justin Bieber Brands LLC, and Bieber Time Merchandise — with Taylor’s firm, Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, in 2022.
The star’s long-time manager, Scooter Braun, continues to manage Bieber, according to the source. “[Bieber’s] still under contract and will be for quite some time,” they note.
Representatives for Bieber and Braun did not promptly respond to PEOPLE’s request for comments.
Bieber has now employed Depp’s financial advisor, Edward White, who established Edward White & Co. in 1976.
The California-based company, recently merged with Eide Bailly, offers tax and consulting services and serves numerous Hollywood clients, including Jack Nicholson and Allen Paulson, along with the estates of Lena Horne and Vin Scully.
“[Taylor] has been assisting them in the transition to Edward White,” the source informs PEOPLE.
White has managed Depp, 61, since 2016. In 2022, he testified in Depp’s defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Before the Depp v. Heard trial, White aided Depp with his finances in 2017 and supported him in a lawsuit against The Management Group for mishandling his finances.
Bieber’s recent decision follows his sale of a 291-song catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023. Billboard valued the deal at over $200 million.
This transaction transferred the rights to every song Bieber released or had an interest in up to the end of 2021, including his six studio albums — My World 2.0, Under the Mistletoe, Believe, Purpose, Changes, and Justice — and other works such as My World and Journals, along with hit singles like “Baby,” “Boyfriend,” “What Do You Mean?” “Sorry,” “Love Yourself,” “Yummy,” “Holy,” and “Peaches.”
Hipgnosis now owns 100% of the profits from Bieber’s writing and recording credits as well as “neighboring rights,” which are earnings from public plays of his songs in stores, restaurants, etc.
However, Universal Music Group retains ownership of his recorded masters indefinitely.