Behind Wang Jianlin's global aspirations was a comedy of errors — one that China's next generation of entrepreneurs may want to avoid.
Illustration by Robert Neubecker
Lucas Wilson had only been at his new job for four weeks when he traveled from Australia to the Spanish island of Mallorca to host a private dinner for 24 luxury yacht owners. As the sun set over the bay where the Sunseeker yachts were moored, their owners — British and American tech entrepreneurs and restaurateurs — filed in for dinner at La Fortaleza, the 400-year-old fortress on the cliff.
“My job was literally to travel the world, looking for wealthy people,” Wilson recalled, looking back.
It was April 2016, and Wilson had just joined Dalian Wanda Group, the private sector Chinese conglomerate that was expanding aggressively overseas. At that point, Wanda had spent more than $10 billion scooping up marquee global brands in sports and entertainment — including Sunseeker, AMC theaters, Ironman Group, the Atlético de Madrid soccer team, and Legendary Entertainment, the American film and TV production company. Wanda had become a symbol of a newly confident China.
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