Wanda's $1 Billion Dick Clark Deal is Officially Dead

By Rachel Deason, March 14, 2017

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Wanda CEO Wang Jianlin is one step farther away from taking over the West Hollywood after his company’s attempted US$1 billion acquisition of Dick Clark Productions fell through.

Eldridge Industries, which owns the production company, confirmed the bid had been terminated. In a statement, Elridge said that it killed off the deal after Wanda "failed to honor its contractual obligations." Sources close to the deal also said Wanda was "unwilling or unable to make a reasonable proposal" for extending negotiations after the deal began falling apart last month.

Elridge filed a suit in the US seeking US$25 million it is owed in termination fees. 

Rumors swirled last month that the deal's impending collapse had nothing to do with a fear of Donald Trump not approving it, as some earlier speculated. Instead, sources claimed it was off because of the challenges involved with getting currency outside of China

READ MORE: China's Richest Man Warns Trump US Jobs at Risk

So far, Wanda has not commented on the matter.

Wang Jianlin has long had his sights set on Hollywood. In 2012, Dalian Wanda Group acquired movie theater chain AMC Entertainment and later purchased the distribution rights to all Legendary Entertainment intellectual property. China’s richest man also sees Hollywood as a rival of sorts, with US$8.2 billion plans to build the world’s largest film studio on China’s northeast coast. 

[Image via sino-us.com]

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