The great Dick Clark in his youth. (Photo : Getty Images)
American entertainment firm Dick Clark Productions (DCP) founded by iconic American host Dick Clark might soon become part of the expanding entertainment empire of Wang Jianlin, China's richest person.
Jianlin's Dalian Wanda Group is in talks to buy DCP, said DCP's parent company, Eldridge Industries, which also owns magazines Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.
"Dick Clark Productions and Beijing Wanda Culture Industry Group Co., Ltd., have agreed to enter into exclusive talks with the shared goal of finalizing a mutually satisfactory transaction," said Eldridge in a statement.
"DCP is controlled by Eldridge Industries, which announced last month that it was conducting a strategic review of its media holdings."
DCP was founded by Clark in 1957 and is now valued at over $1 billion. It's produced a host of popular American TV shows over the past decades, the most iconic of which is American Bandstand that Clark hosted until his death in 2012. Among many other popular DCP programs are the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and Golden Globe awards, among others.
Early this year, Wanda paid $3.5 billion to buy Legendary Entertainment, the U.S. studio behind the movies, "Jurassic World" and "Interstellar."
The deal to acquire DCP is Wanda's latest in a series that seek to expand Wanda's American foothold.
Wang Jianlin had a net worth of some $33.3 billion as of this August 2016. A former soldier in the People's Liberation Army, Wang has been described as a "a man of Napoleonic ambition."
He runs his company pretty much like an infantry division and enforces "iron discipline" in the workplace. His micro management is so extreme, his employees are fined when they violate the company's conservative dress code.
Eldridge Industries is the investment vehicle of former Guggenheim Partners executive and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly. Guggenheim and others purchased Dick Clark for about $370 million in 2012.
