Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Wanda buys Golden Globes rights owner
Print Edition
ACQUISITIVE Chinese property-to-entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group is buying the maker of the Golden Globes awards show, US television rights owner Dick Clark Productions, for “approximately US$1 billion,” it said yesterday.
Wanda has sought to transform its business in the face of uncertainties in Chinese real estate, and has invested heavily in film, buying Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment earlier this year.
The latest deal marks its entry into television production, it said in a statement, calling it “a big step forward in expanding Wanda’s map in the entertainment industry.”
Dick Clark Productions’ eponymous founder made his name presenting American Bandstand for more than 30 years, and as well as the Golden Globes, the firm owns the television rights to events ranging from Miss America to the New Year countdown in New York’s Times Square.
It also makes the hit series “So You Think You Can Dance.”
It describes itself on its website as “the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming” and owning “one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries.”
Wanda said the acquisition meant it would have the “highest-end” television resources from the beginning of its expansion into the medium.
“Obtaining top television production rights brings about complementary and coordinated development for Wanda’s current focuses on the film, tourism, and sports industries,” it said, adding the present management would remain in place.
Wanda, headed by one of China’s richest men Wang Jianlin, has its roots in commercial real estate development but has diversified widely in recent years into entertainment and sports.
It now describes itself as the world’s biggest movie theater operator and biggest sports company.
Expanding its entertainment portfolio is an important part of the company’s strategy to cope with uncertainty in China’s property market, Li Jiachao, marketing director for mergers and acquisitions advisory firm DealGlobe, said.
The property boom fuelled China’s stellar economic growth of recent decades, but has entered the doldrums more recently, with Wang himself warning that the country is in the midst of the “biggest bubble in history.”
“With real estate reaching a bottleneck for further development, Wanda, as well as many other Chinese investors, have realized that culture and media is the next trend,” Li said.
Chinese are making more money and are more willing to spend on sports and entertainment.”
As well as the US$3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment — the filmmakers behind the recent Batman trilogy and Jurassic World — Wanda bought US movie theater chain AMC for US$2.6 billion in 2012, and London-based Odeon & UCI cinema group this year in a deal worth around US$1.2 billion.
Wanda announced a partnership with “Big Six” studio Sony Pictures in September to invest in movies in which it would “strive to highlight the China element.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
