The Ross Family Currently Does Not Own Bob Ross Inc. Here's Who Does

The new Netflix documentary 'Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed' follows the messy battle over the rights to Bob Ross Inc. Who owns it now?

The Joy of Painting icon Bob Ross created a healthy empire built on "happy accidents" and peaceful moments portray, but the story behind his soothing portray videos is a lot murkier than it appears. In the new Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, the messy battle for control over the empire built on his image is performed out for new and old lovers of his content material to peer — and it's not as lovely as his art work.

Who owns Bob Ross Inc. now? The answer might wonder you.

Annette and Walt Kowalski claim they discovered Bob Ross.

In the documentary, Annette and Walt Kowalski element taking portray classes by means of Bob Ross following a family tragedy, leading them to in the end decide to "put it in a bottle and sell it," as Annette stated.

From there, Bob landed his PBS particular and his empire slowly started to grow. Bob, Annette, Walt, and Bob's wife, Jane, every shared quarter-portions of the company, however once Bob's spouse passed, her stocks were cut up frivolously among the three final contributors, leaving Bob as a minority shareholder.

This reportedly started a long fight by means of Bob to keep the rights to the company that was built on his image, despite the fact that it was once a messy and complex struggle that was only made additional cumbersome when Bob was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma — a analysis that might ultimately lead to his death in 1995.

Who owns Bob Ross Inc. now? It's not owned through Bob's decendants.

Despite Bob spending a lot of his time earlier than his death trying to verify the corporate founded on his name and likeness wouldn't be headed through the Kowalskis, it's nonetheless currently controlled by way of the family. Many of Bob's descendants were pushed to show over the rights to the corporate to the Kowalskis, and presently, Joan Kowalski, the daughter of Annette and Walt, is the president of Bob Ross Inc. The Ross family has no hand in his present emblem.

Joan claims that there was once no rigidity between the two households prior to Bob's death, according to Esquire, although a report from The Daily Beast alleges that there was once a lot back-and-forth, starting from the time Bob was once diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The rights to Bob's name and likeness were left to his son and part brother, though the Kowalskis pursued extensive prison motion to retain those rights, going as far as to gather many of his non-public pieces they deemed associated with the industry.

In reality, all of the paintings Bob made throughout his lucrative profession are now owned by means of the Kowalski family, and Annette was once the best individual verified through Bob Ross Inc. to authenticate his paintings. The documentary even alleged that the family convinced Bob's part brother to agree to a settlement for the rights to his name and likeness. In 2012, Annette and Walt became over the company to their daughter, and Joan is now the mastermind at the back of the intensive Bob Ross emblem.

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed is to be had on Netflix now.

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