Dalian Drops $1 Bil On Dick Clark

Chinese real estate and entertainment conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group has sealed a deal to buy dick clark productions for an eye-popping $1 billion. Yes, you read that right. Variety reports the acquisition marks yet another aggressive move into Hollywood for Dalian Wanda, which already owns Legendary Entertainment and AMC Theaters, and is planning to acquire Carmike Cinemas, a deal that would create the world’s largest movie exhibitor. The dcp move marks Wanda’s first move into TV. “It’s a big step forward in expanding Wanda’s map in the entertainment industry,” the company said. dick clark productions is best known for producing The Golden Globes, the American Music Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards, as well as Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest on ABC and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance?

Wanda said the management team at Dick Clark Productions, lead by CEO Allen Shapiro, will remain intact and that executives have signed “long term operation target agreement” with Wanda. To give you some perspective on the monetary size of this deal — DCP was initially acquired by Dan Snyder‘s RedZone Capital Management in 2007 for about $175 million. Five years later, Guggenheim Partners bought DCP for $370 million — a price tag that many at the time thought was inflated. More recently, the company was spun off from Guggenheim to Eldridge Industries, which is owned by former Guggenheim exec Todd Boehly.