Crushing Disney ??

[Randy W]

in the Shanghaiist

 

China's richest man Wang Jianlin opens Wanda World theme park in bid to crush Disney

 

http://shanghaiist.com/upload/2016/05/wanda-world-nanchang-1.png

“They [Disney] shouldn’t have entered China. We have a [saying]: one tiger is no match for a pack of wolves. Shanghai has one Disney, while Wanda, across the nation, will open 15 to 20. Disneyland is fully built on American culture. We place importance on local culture.”

 

. . .

 

Wanda has grown considerably in the last few years, expanding past its successful real estate business into entertainment. In addition to developing 99 plazas across China and acquiring the cinema chain AMC in 2012, Wanda also acquired Hollywood’s Legendary Entertainment earlier this year.

 

 

[Randy W]

Disney spins around in his grave - vows to sue (in Today Online)

 

 

Disney vows action as Snow White appears at new China theme park

 

 

http://www.todayonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/photo_gallery_image/public/photos/43_images/26098047.PNG?itok=L60B907x

[Greg.D.]

From Wikipedia:

 

"Snow White" is a nineteenth-century German fairy tale which is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1][2]

[Randy W]

From Wikipedia:

 

"Snow White" is a nineteenth-century German fairy tale which is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1][2]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_%28Disney%29

On June 18, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted The Walt Disney Company's trademark application (filed November 19, 2008), for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, except literature works of fiction and nonfiction.^[43]

 

43. "US Patent and Trademark Office – Snow White trademark status". Retrieved December 30, 2013.

 

[Greg.D.]

On June 18, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted The Walt Disney Company's trademark application (filed November 19, 2008), for the name "Snow White" that covers all live and recorded movie, television, radio, stage, computer, Internet, news, and photographic entertainment uses, except literature works of fiction and nonfiction.^[43]

 

 

Then, I'm all for Disney getting crushed on this one. Just like the ridiculous Happy Birthday copyright, which never should have happened either.

 

Pretty much, if you're a foreign company in China, you will get crushed one way or another.

[Randy W]

This is worth a mention . . .

 

Wanda sells off $9.3 billion worth of tourism assets, waving white flag in war against Disney

BY SHANGHAIIST IN NEWS ON JUL 11, 2017 8:40 PM

[Greg.D.]

A nice thing about China is that (it seems) nobody is too big to JAIL and they don't seem to like the too big to fail category of companies either.

 

I don't see this as Disney winning but see it as a coordinated effort by people in authority to reduce the footprint of Wanda (too many loans), Anbang (too many dubious products), and foreign investment (save for strategic acquisitions). (Wanda will be explicitly retiring debt with the proceeds)

 

Government backed entities will always practice fuzzy accounting and carry debt. I have finally seen at least one mention now that a significant amount of the overseas infrastructure loans will be written off as bad debt - though it at least kept domestic production of steel and concrete humming. It's really been a free-for-all the last 10-20 years and there should be no reason that smart management of capitol, growth and strategic development should not be more of a role for the government.

 

I see all the fails I want on YouTube and don't want to see a China fail.

[Allon]

Too bad. I had an old roommate who worked for Disney. He was constantly bragging about how he was so well traveled and how Disney was such a wonderful company. I was a consultant in IT at DisneyWorld. It was completely mismanaged. They are laying off people now in droves.

 

The only ones I had any respect for were the Imagineers who did some excellent robotic stuff. They were just laid off.

 

Everyone there is always on you about "being in character." That "character" was just a disguise for very strict dress code. They were worse than IBM in the early days when if you wore a shirt that was any color but white, you were sent home.

 

I have heard it has changed but the damage has been done. Problem is, I would ride Space Mountain all day if I could.

[Randy W]

More on Wanda, if you're interested - in the SCMP

 

 

What happened to Wanda tycoon’s dream of a Chinese Hollywood?

Wang Jianlin’s plan for a Chinese ‘movie metropolis’ seems to have to hit a wall after Dalian Wanda agreed to sell most of its hotel and tourism portfolio to a rival

 

 

“For young actors who have just begun their career, the hotel is fine. But for experienced actors, the facilities are not good enough,” he said, adding that only two or three domestic production crews were shooting there.

“I guess it takes some time to build up supporting facilities,” he said.

The pictures of the grand ceremony that launched this project four years ago are still visible around the area, but none of the Hollywood stars has ever returned.

 

 

[Greg.D.]

In China, Herd of ‘Gray Rhinos’ Threatens Economy

 

The rhinos are a herd of Chinese tycoons who have used a combination of political connections and raw ambition to create sprawling global conglomerates. Companies like Anbang Insurance Group, Fosun International, HNA Group and Dalian Wanda Group have feasted on cheap debt provided by state banks, spending lavishly to build their empires.

 

Such players are now so big, so complex, so indebted and so enmeshed in the economy that the Chinese government is abruptly bringing them to heel. President Xi Jinping recently warned that financial stability is crucial to national security, while the official newspaper of the Communist Party pointed to the dangers of a “gray rhinoceros,” without naming specific companies.

 

 

 

Dalian Wanda went head-to-head with American entertainment giants, promising a year ago to defeat Disney in China. Now, the Chinese company is in retreat, selling off its theme parks and hotels.

.... Wanda announced this month that it would sell $9.3 billion worth of hotels and theme parks to Sunac China, another real estate developer. But then Wanda was forced to scrap the original deal and split the portfolio between Sunac and another Chinese buyer, R & F Properties.

The company that was forced to buy the Wanda asses actually was in no position to do so, so it looks like the pain is being split between two companies.

[Allon]

This whole thing would be funny, if it was not so tragic.