Bottom line: Wanda is likely to succeed in its purchase of Dick Clark Productions, but could pay a rich premium for the awards show producer as part of an effort to develop similar programs in China.
Wanda in talks to buy Dick Clark Productions
Just a week after making headlines through a strategic tie-up with Sony Pictures, China’s star-struck Wanda Group is in talks for yet another blockbuster deal to buy Dick Clark Productions, known for producing a number of popular award shows. My first reaction to the headline was a big “So what?” since the production company’s namesake, who died in 2012, is best known to me as the maker of the aging annual program celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Wanda’s new production tie-up with Sony Pictures will provide movies for its cinema chains in China and globally, but could become a drag on its theater operations if the films are poorly received.
Wanda opens new resort in Hefei
Just days after receiving a major setback to its plans to invest in Paramount Pictures, Chinese Hollywood wannabe Wanda Group has just announced a film production tie-up with Sony Pictures. This particular deal looks decidedly like a consolation prize for Wanda, which is trying to build up a diversified entertainment empire similar to Disney (NYSE: DIS).
The company was bidding for a stake in Paramount, one of the top 6 Hollywood studios, after the studio said earlier this year it wanted to sell a strategic stake in itself. But Paramount ultimately reversed that decision following an internal battle for control of the company’s parent Viacom, leaving Wanda out in the cold. (previous post) This new Sony tie-up doesn’t involve any equity swap, and instead looks mostly like a relatively routine co-production deal that is becoming quite common between Hollywood and Chinese partners. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 22. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Alibaba Takes Lead in China Digital Ad Market, Baidu Drops to Second (press release)
Postal Savings Bank of China IPO Raises $7.4 Bln After Pricing at Low End (English article)
China Telecom (HKEx: 728) to Close Accounts Without Real Name Registration (Chinese article)
Sony (Tokyo: 6758) Close to Motion Picture Alliance With China’s Wanda (English article)
Filing Shows Smartisan Value Drops By 500 Mln Yuan in Half Year (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Wanda will look for new Hollywood assets after being rejected in the bidding for a stake of Paramount, while the departure of a member of the group buying Baidu Video is a minor setback and a new investor will be easily found.
Paramount abandons stake sale plan
A couple of headlines are showing that China’s love affair with the film and video industries isn’t always so smooth, with the collapse of 2 major deals involving cinema giant Wanda and online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). The far larger of the 2 developments has seen leading Hollywood studio Paramount scrap plans to sell a strategic stake in itself, ending a deal that reportedly had seen Wanda emerge as one of the most likely buyers. The Baidu deal is quite a bit smaller, and has seen one of the buyout partners withdraw in a plan to spin off its relatively minor Baidu Video business. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on September 20. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Wanda Rejected as Viacom’s (NYSE: VIAb) Paramount Abandons Stake Sale Plan (Chinese article)
Internal Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Probe Nets 17 for Corruption, Worst at Nuomi Unit (Chinese article)
China Unicom (HKEx: 762) Offers Biggest iPhone 7 Subsidies, Up to 49 Pct (Chinese article)
Zeus Entertainment (Shenzhen: 002354) Halts Plan to Invest in Baidu Video (English article)
Bottom line: Wanda’s recent steam of announcements for multibillion dollar deals, including the latest for a $10 billion entertainment complex in Shandong, are mostly hype, and many will never get completed.
Wanda announces new multibillion-dollar project in Shandong
It used to be that I would get quite excited on seeing the word “billion” when used in connection with new investments, since such major sums are relatively rare. But these days the word is becoming almost a cliche in China, and one of the most egregious abusers of the figure is real estate and aspiring entertainment giant Wanda Group. True to that tendency, Wanda and its increasingly chatty chief Wang Jianlin have just announced yet another multibillion-dollar investment, this time for an entertainment complex in the industrial city of Jinan in eastern China’s Shandong province. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 27-29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Wanda Agrees to Build $9.5 Bln Culture Project in China (English article)
Bottom line: Wanda Group is making an aggressive bid to be selected for a $1 billion strategic investment in Paramount, but the bid is likely to fail due to objections by the studio’s controlling shareholder.
Wanda’s Paramount bid likely to fail
New comments from China’s richest man indicate he is aggressively bidding for a stake in leading US film studio Paramount, which was put up for sale earlier this year as its parent sought to find a strategic investor. But separate reports last week show that such a deal could face difficulty due to objections by Sumner Redstone, who controls Paramount parent Viacom (Nasdaq: VIAB).
Redstone and Viacom’s current CEO Philippe Dauman have been locked in a battle for control of the company, but a resolution of that feud now appears to be close. Unfortunately for Wanda, that resolution would see a departure from Viacom by Dauman, the main proponent of the Paramount stake sale plan. That would leave Redstone, who was cool on such a plan, with the final rights to approve or veto a stake sale. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Reports that Tencent and Baidu have withdrawn from Wanda’s O2O e-commerce venture are probably true, and the service may be quietly retired over the next 12 month due to lack of progress.
Baidu, Tencent dump Wanda’s ffan.com
Real estate giant Wanda Group may be zipping ahead with its diversification drive into entertainment, but its lower profile move into Internet services doesn’t seem to be gaining nearly as much traction. That’s my latest assessment, following new reports saying Internet giants Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Tencent (HKEx: 700) have quietly pulled out of Wanda’s high-profile foray into e-commerce announced more than a year ago. The reports are based on market talk citing some business filings that indirectly hint at such a withdrawal, which wouldn’t be too surprising. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and news reports about China companies were carried on August 3. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China Regulator Says Didi, Uber Deal Will Need Mofcom Approval (English article)
Sanyuan Foods Gives Up Preferential Rights to Buy Beijing McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) JV (Chinese article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Enters into Agreement for Going Private Transaction (PRNewswire)
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Tencent (HKEx: 700) May Cut Wanda E-Commerce Ties (Chinese article)
Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM) Buys Global News Aggregation App ‘News Republic‘ (English article)
Bottom line: China Telecom’s sale of its online video business looks like an exit from the space under its new chairman, while Wanda’s purchase of an online movie site could mark the start of a major new round of investment in online video.
China Telecom sells TV189 online video unit
Just days after search giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) abandoned plans to spin off its iQiyi video unit, 2 more online video headlines are reflecting the rapid changes taking place in the space. The larger will see China Telecom (HKEx: 728; NYSE: CHA), the smallest of China’s 3 telcos, sell its online video unit TV189 to a hotel operator called Besttone Holdings (Shanghai: 600640) for 3.9 billion yuan ($580 million). The smaller will see the fast-growing Wanda Group buy the online movie site Mtime for $280 million. Read Full Post…
