Tom Cruise during the Shanghai premiere of Paramount Pictures’
“Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation,” which China’s Alibaba Pictures invested in.
Chinese companies are increasingly staking their claim on Hollywood, with Dalian Wanda Group Co. closer to its goal of becoming one of the world’s dominant entertainment companies following reports it is in talks to buy a minority stake in the Paramount Pictures movie studio.
The flood of Chinese money isn’t only reshaping Hollywood—it is also giving Western films and companies entry into what will one day be the world’s largest box-office market.
China’s swelling middle-class consumers, and their demand for entertainment, are seen as one of the key profit drivers for production studios and theater chains globally.
“Very few foreign companies have ever successfully cracked the Hollywood code in a big way,” said Peter Schloss, chief executive of a specialist merchant bank that advises companies on asset sales to Asian buyers. Mr. Schloss says Chinese buyers are getting closer to this goal.
Wanda is in talks with Viacom Inc. about buying 49% of the studio, according to people familiar with the discussions. Another, undisclosed, suitor is also on the hunt for Paramount, one of the people said. Viacom is seeking a deal that would value Paramount at between $8 billion and $10 billion, one of the people said.
Wanda didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The purchase, if it were to happen, would be the latest in a string of deals for the Chinese property-and-entertainment conglomerate run by billionaire Wang Jianlin.
In recent years, Wanda has acquired production and finance company Legendary Entertainment and U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment, said this week that it is buying Europe’s largest movie theater chain Odeon & UCI Cinemas.
MarketWatch
Please
contact us in case of Copyright Infringement of the photo sourced from the internet, we will remove it within 24 hours.
京公网安备 11010502030596号
