2012年06月26日
万达的生意经
DAVID BARBOZA
北京——因为北美电影市场的不景气，好莱坞的电影公司对中国表现出了更大兴趣。
沃尔特‧迪斯尼公司(Walt Disney Company)及其子公司漫威娱乐(Marvel Entertainment)旗下的曼威工作室(Marvel Studios)正在中国制作《钢铁侠3》(Iron Man 3)；新闻集团(News Corporation)近期入股北京的博纳影业集团；同中国有关部门达成的一项协议将允许更多美国公司发行更多电影，美国片方还将从中国这个世界增长最 快的经济体中获得更多的票房分账。
不过，至少有一位商界的亿万富豪押注美国电影市场，认为那里依旧是通向国际成功的入场券。他是位中国人。
王健林是位白手起家的大亨，如今正收购AMC娱乐(AMC Entertainment)，这是仅次于帝高娱乐(Regal Entertainment)的北美第二大院线。他承诺要将AMC整合到一个新的、中国制造的全球品牌中，这一品牌叫万达集团。
王健林现年57岁，被视作中国最成功的房地产巨头之一。他旗下170亿美元的帝国涵盖巨型商业地产开发项目、五星级酒店、度假村、一家影视制作公司，以及亚洲最大的电影院线。
现在，万达斥资26亿美元收购AMC，藉此在全球拓展其势力范围。此项交易于周日公布，尚有待美国监管当局批准，但无迹象表明交易可能受阻。 本次收购昭示王健林个人的新纪元，亦彰显中国的发展进入一个新时代。中国企业正走出低端制造业，进军海外以寻求自然资源与全球消费品牌，这是中国经济升级 努力的一部分。
在北京宽敞的总部接受采访时，万达集团董事长王健林称，他正在斟酌自己的下一个海外目的地：欧洲。
"我们正在进行谈判，"王健林说。
万达是一家私营企业，在这个国家占主导地位的是国有企业。但AMC并购案同中国政府的优先目标紧密对接，这些目标包括：鼓励中国企业"走向全球"；推进中国媒体和娱乐产业全面变革；更为重视居民消费。
北京的决策者也有意提升中国的"软实力"，意图在国际上拓展其文化影响力，而电影产业被认为是达到此项目最富前景的途径之一。
但有24年历史的万达集团毕竟缺乏国际经验，在分析人士看来，它能否使如此规模的并购案获得成功，并创建一个全球房地产与娱乐品牌，仍是未定之数。
"中国拥有出色的企业家。但问题是：他们将如何带领企业走向国际？他们愿意学习并做出改变吗？"博达克咨询有限公司(BDA China)——一家位于北京的投资顾问公司——董事长邓肯‧克拉克(Duncan Clark)指出。
这一领域最大的试验之一，正由王健林实施。他出身行伍，将一家小小的房地产公司发展为一个全国性品牌。万达起家于大连，后将其总部迁入北京万达广场，旗下开发或运营的物业总面积高达1.83亿平方英尺。
王健林15岁初中毕业后从军，据他自称，1988年，他辞去大连地方政府官员的职位，借来8万美元创办了一家企业；现在，他称自己的企业是一头"飞奔的大象"。
中国商业地产联盟创办人王永平称，王健林总是能比中国其他房地产巨头们先行一步。
"他有远见，"王永平说（王永平同王健林无亲属关系）："大家都盯着住宅市场时，他跳出来专注商业地产；大家都追捧商业地产时，他的目光转向文化和旅游产业，这些产业是政府目前正在强调和培育的。"
虽然很少有中国企业成功建立全球品牌，王健林对此却并不担心。在他看来，投资于一家专注于"看电影"这种地道的美国式体验的公司，似乎没什么好害怕的；毕竟他经历过文化大革命，那段时期中国的社会与政治均陷于疯狂之中。
"在制定目标和执行战略方面，万达是成熟的，"王健林说："我们拥有完善的体系和部门。如果目标没有达到，黄灯就会亮起来。"
王健林称，通常都能达到目标。去年，尽管市场处在下行中，公司仍获得30%的增长。而且，他说到2030年，公司营业总收入将达到300亿美元。
这就让人不解了：为什么在美国电影市场不佳，票房收入疲软，美国的电影制作人正将目光投向中国之际，还要来投资？
有分析人士暗示，王健林收购AMC有政治目的，旨在讨好中国领导人——他们希望通过文化产品出口推进中国的国际影响力。还有人称，王健林热衷于将自己树立为中国的第一位全球企业领导人。
一位熟悉万达-AMC谈判，但未获授权对此作出评论的公司高管称："对他（王健林）来说，这是一个声明式的买卖：他要从中国走出去，这个领域他很有兴趣。他不断强调，要学习如何在美国运营影院。这不仅是为了钱。"
但为了做成这笔交易，万达需要很多钱：超过30亿美金现金，包括承诺在北美投资于AMC的5亿美元。眼下信贷环境艰难，中国房地产市场又处于下跌中，筹到如此巨额金钱实非易事。最终，这笔现金将主要来自中国的国有大型银行。
为确保交易成功，王健林称，他将以长期薪酬激励保留AMC的管理层不变，并大量投资翻新老旧美国影院，以提高营业收入。
当被问及AMC是否会放映中国政府不喜欢的影片时（比如反映西藏叛乱的争议作品），王健林称，他不会干涉美国的管理团队所作的决策。
对于中国国内有人认为王健林同失势的政治局委员薄熙来的关系可能会给万达造成伤害（薄熙来也起家于大连），他做出了反驳。
"我们认识，彼此非常熟悉。但仅限于工作关系，没有私交。"王健林说。据他称，政府并未要求调查万达集团。
整个采访过程中，王健林说话时冷静、沉重，偶尔捻一下拇指。他说自己专注于目标和战略执行，速度要快。
他说，收购一家好莱坞制片厂并不在他的计划中，但也不排除这种可能性。他又说，酒店和美国的购物中心是更有可能的目标。
"我们没有房地产走向全球的战略，"王健林说："但为了全球化和走出去，我们有意收购酒店和酒店管理公司。我们也喜欢百货商店。"
Zhang Wei在北京、Gu Huini在上海为本文提供研究支持。
本文最初发表于2012年5月25日。
翻译：韩松
June 26, 2012
Chinese Power Player Places Risky Bet on Moviegoing
By DAVID BARBOZA
BEIJING — Hollywood studios, facing steep challenges in the North American movie market, are taking more interest in China.
The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios, a division of Disney's Marvel Entertainment subsidiary, are producing "Iron Man 3" in China. News Corporation recently bought a stake in the Bona Film Group in Beijing. And an agreement with Chinese authorities will allow more American companies to distribute more movies and reap a greater share of the box office in China, the world's fastest-growing economy.
But at least one billionaire businessman is betting that the American movie market is still the ticket to international success. And he is Chinese.
Wang Jianlin, a rags-to-riches tycoon, is taking over AMC Entertainment, North America's second-largest movie theater chain behind Regal Entertainment. And he is promising to integrate it into a new, made in China, global brand called the Wanda Group.
Mr. Wang, 57, is regarded as one of the most successful Chinese real estate tycoons. His $17 billion empire includes huge commercial property developments, five-star hotels, tourist resorts, a film and television production company and Asia's largest cinema network.
Now, by paying $2.6 billion to acquire AMC, the Wanda Group is extending its reach globally. The deal, announced Sunday, is still subject to the approval of United States regulators, though there are no hints it will be blocked. The purchase signifies a new era for Mr. Wang and in China's development. Companies here are moving away from low-cost manufacturing and going abroad in search of natural resources and global consumer brands, part of an effort to upgrade the nation's economy.
In an interview at his spacious headquarters in Beijing, Mr. Wang, the Wanda chairman, said he was pondering his next international destination: Europe.
"We're already negotiating," he said.
Wanda is a private company in a nation dominated by state-owned enterprises. But the AMC deal is closely aligned with the Chinese government's priorities, which include encouraging Chinese companies to "go global," pushing an overhaul of Chinese media and entertainment properties and placing greater emphasis on consumer spending.
Policy makers in Beijing also want to bolster China's "soft power" capabilities to extend its cultural influence internationally, and the film industry is considered one of the most promising avenues for doing so.
But whether Wanda, a 24-year-old enterprise with little international experience, can make a success of such a big acquisition and create a global property and entertainment brand is debatable, analysts say.
"China has great entrepreneurs," says Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing-based investment advisory firm. "But the question is: How will they take these companies international? Are they going to be willing to learn and adapt?"
One of the biggest experiments in this area is being undertaken by Mr. Wang, a former army officer who has turned a tiny real estate venture into a national brand. Wanda, which started in Dalian, a northeastern city, and moved its headquarters to Wanda Plaza in Beijing, is a colossus with 183 million square feet of land under development or operation.
In 1988, Mr. Wang — who entered the army at 15, after middle school — says he left a job as a local government official in Dalian and borrowed $80,000 to start a business he now describes as a "sprinting elephant."
Wang Yongping, founder of the China Commercial Real Estate Association, described the chairman of Wanda as usually a step ahead of other Chinese real estate barons.
"He always has a vision," Mr. Wang, no relation, said. "When everybody was doing housing property, he jumped out to focus on commercial property. When everybody was chasing commercial property, he was eyeing culture and tourism — the industries that the government is stressing and cultivating."
That few Chinese companies have managed to establish global brands is of little concern to Wanda's chairman. And buying a stake in a company focused on a quintessentially American experience — moviegoing — seemed hardly daunting for a man who survived the Cultural Revolution, a period of social and political madness in China.
"In setting goals and executing a strategy, Wanda is sophisticated," said Mr. Wang, the Wanda chairman. "We have good systems and departments. If targets are not reached, a yellow light goes off."
Mr. Wang usually hits his targets, he says. The company has experienced 30 percent growth in the last year, even in a down market. And he promises that by 2015 the Wanda Group will have overall revenue of about $30 billion.
Which raises the question: Why invest in the United States cinema market at a time of weakness, when box office receipts are sluggish and American film producers are looking to China?
Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Wang's acquisition of AMC was political, an effort to curry favor with Chinese leaders, who are pushing their nation to enhance its influence by exporting cultural products. Others contend that Mr. Wang is eager to establish himself as China's first global corporate chief.
"This is kind of a statement deal for him," said an executive familiar with the Wanda-AMC talks, but not authorized to discuss them. "He's coming out of China, and this is an area he has great interest in. He kept emphasizing he just wants to learn how cinemas are operated in the U.S. It's not just about the money."
But to pull off the deal, Wanda needed plenty of that: more than $3 billion in cash, including $500 million it has promised to invest in AMC in North America. Financing such a big deal in a tough credit environment, and with China's property market in a slump, was some feat. In the end, much of the cash came from China's big, state-controlled banks.
To ensure that the deal succeeds, Mr. Wang said he would keep AMC's management in place with long-term pay incentives, and invest heavily in renovating older American theaters in an effort to bolster revenue.
Asked whether AMC would show films that the Chinese government found offensive, such as one dealing with the contentious issue of rebellions in Tibet, Mr. Wang said he would not interfere with decisions by his management team in the United States.
He also dismissed speculation in China that his ties to Bo Xilai, the fallen Politburo leader who also got his start in Dalian, could harm the Wanda Group.
"We knew each other, and were very familiar with one another," he said. "But it was just a working relationship. There was no personal relationship." He said the government had not asked to investigate the group.
Throughout the interview, Mr. Wang — who spoke calmly and quietly, and occasionally twirled his thumbs — said he was focusing on targets and executing strategies, fast.
Buying a Hollywood movie studio was not planned, he said, but he would not rule it out. Hotels and American shopping malls are more likely targets, he said.
"We don't have the strategy to go global in real estate," he said. "But for globalization and going out, we would like to buy hotels and hotel management companies. We also like department stores."
Zhang Wei contributed research from Beijing and Gu Huini from Shanghai.
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