As Chinese media execs are "circling Hollywood firms looking for more movie-industry deals," one such exec is "discussing having his company make an investment" in WME-IMG, according to sources cited by Claire Atkinson of the N.Y. POST. Sources said that the most likely partners for WME-IMG "might be Chinese digital companies, which include" tech firm Tencent, e-commerce group Alibaba and internet services firm Baidu. Sources said that real estate and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda has "quietly held conversations" with private equity firm TPG Capital with "an eye to acquiring a stake" in CAA. But CAA sources "poured cold water on that idea." Atkinson notes another Hollywood deal "would continue a pattern" for Dalian Wanda of "moving money out of China to expand its entertainment sector holdings" (N.Y. POST, 4/22).
TITAN OF INDUSTRY: TIME magazine includes Dalian Wanda Chair Wang Jianlin in its annual list of most influential people, and Hannah Beech noted Wang, who also owns a stake in La Liga club Atletico Madrid, has been on a "foreign spending spree." In a country "where billionaires boast rags-to-riches tales, Wang, an ex-soldier in the People’s Liberation Army, isn’t unusual." Nor are his "connections to China’s political elite, which surely aided his ascent, even as Wanda’s debts have piled up." But unlike other Chinese tycoons, Wang "is a showman, as comfortable hosting Hollywood actors as he is serenading employees with rock songs" (TIME.com, 4/21).
