Virtual heir apparents

Who will inherit Whitney Houston's vast fortune? It's turned out to be a million-dollar question.

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Published: Thu 30 Jul 2015, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Fri 31 Jul 2015, 10:25 AM

With the untimely and unfortunate death of Bobbi Kristina Brown - the late Whitney Houston's daughter - there is widespread speculation on what will happen to Houston's financial 'legacy': her life's earnings, her properties - that would have normally been passed on to her daughter. With Bobbi Kristina dead at 22, the field has been left wide open.
Stories of inheritance and "legacy concerns" are cropping up at the drop of a hat. Who will inherit Whitney Houston's vast fortune? It's turned out to be a million-dollar question. It is ironical that on the same day Facebook introduced its legacy feature in the UK; it's now gone live, and millions of Facebook users can now nominate an 'inheritor'.
We've all heard of apps that continue to tweet your train of thoughts after you're dead and gone - and it sounded somewhat odd, even morbid, that you could pretend to live on virtually. But what Facebook is doing is creating a property out of its page (the legacy feature will soon be a worldwide phenomenon); it's almost like having a piece of real estate with your personal touches (and possessions) in place, and you are, in turn, "willing" it to who you consider your most worthy inheritor: the one who will take forward your vision.
Although it may seem like overarching ambition on Zuckerberg's part to assume his brand can be this valuable, Netizens are excited at the prospect. Some are being made to feel important that this is yet another feather in their caps, one that can be "passed on"; and some are made to feel equally important that they stand to inherit something so virtually valuable. And there is bound to be a smaller percentage of Facebook users who will perhaps get creeped out at the prospect of their social media page being used as a goldmine. Here too, the field is wide open, and as Facebook would say, more comments are awaited.


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