BEIJING (AP) – China’s Dalian Wanda Group has added another entertainment trophy to its stable of overseas acquisitions, paying $1 billion for Dick Clark Productions, the TV company that produces the Golden Globes and the “Miss America” pageant.
Wanda is one of China’s most important conglomerates and China’s largest property developer. Its chairman, Wang Jianlin, is China’s richest man by most measures, with an estimated net worth exceeding $32 billion.
The company owns AMC Theatres and bought Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion in January. In September, it announced a movie partnership with Sony Pictures.
Diversifying away from China’s weakening property market, Wanda Group has made entertainment a major focus of its growth in recent years. It has openly embraced a mission to fend off Western imports in the Chinese market and become a globally recognized Chinese entertainment brand.
That push into the U.S. entertainment industry has raised alarm among some American lawmakers concerned about creative freedom and the promotion of Chinese propaganda. A group of legislators recently asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to review Chinese takeovers.