Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin is not accustomed to setbacks — least of all those dealt by his own government.
中国商业巨子王健林还不习惯遭遇挫折，尤其是中国政府给他造成的挫折。
Since founding Dalian Wanda as a local real estate business, Mr Wang has become one of China’s richest and most influential men. His global property and entertainment empire includes theme parks, hotels, football clubs, theatre chains and Hollywood studios.在国内创办房地产企业大连万达(Dalian Wanda)以后，王健林很快成为了中国最富有和最具影响力的人士之一。他的全球房地产及娱乐帝国包括主题公园、酒店、足球俱乐部、连锁影院以及好莱坞电影公司。But his run of good fortune stalled in March, when his planned $1bn purchase of US TV production company, Dick Clark Productions fell apart amid worries about outbound investment depleting China’s foreign currency reserves.但他的好运气在今年3月遇挫。由于中国政府担心对外投资损耗外汇储备，他拟议以10亿美元收购美国电视制作公司——迪克?克拉克制片公司(Dick Clark Productions)的交易告吹。For the first time, Mr Wang, known simply as “the Chairman” to his employees at Dalian Wanda, has broken silence on the manoeuvrings that led to the collapse of the deal — and what it means for his empire.王健林首次打破沉默，详述了此次交易告吹的原委以及这对其商业帝国意味着什么。万达的员工直接称呼他“董事长”。The former army officer confirmed to the Financial Times that Chinese currency controls had scuttled the deal — the biggest outbound entertainment investment by China so far this year, although he also cited unspecified pushback from the US.这位前军官向英国《金融时报》证实，中国的外汇管控使得这笔交易告吹，不过他说美国方面也有一些阻碍。这笔交易倘若成功，会是今年以来中国在娱乐领域最大的海外投资。In a freewheeling interview, he laid bare the pressures facing Chinese business after Beijing imposed controls on outbound investment late last year, as well as the rise of protectionist sentiment overseas.在一场开诚布公的采访中，王健林坦陈了在去年末中国出台对外投资限制以及海外保护主义情绪抬头之后，中国企业所面临的压力。Once the government began to intensively vet outbound investment for its strategic importance, Wanda’s influence in official circles was not enough to get the Dick Clark deal past financial authorities.在中国政府开始从战略意义出发深入审查对外投资后，万达在官员中的影响力还不足以让迪克?克拉克交易通过金融当局的审批。“Policies have changed on both sides, so we gave up the acquisition” he said. “Both countries have changed their policy. Some people in the United States did not agree with our acquisitions, and some of the policies in China are changing.”他说：“两边的这个政策都发生了变化，所以我们就放弃了这次收购。两个国家的有关政策都发生变化，美国也有人不同意我们收购，中国这边的一些有关的政策也有一些变化。”He was not specific about what US “disagreements” had contributed to the deal’s demise, and there is no public evidence that any US authority tried to block the acquisition.他没有明说美国有哪些“不同意见”导致交易告吹，同时也没有公开证据表明美国当局试图阻碍这场收购。However, some American legislators have recently voiced concerns about Beijing’s influence in Hollywood: “Should the definition of national security be broadened to address concerns about propaganda and control of the media and soft power institutions?” wrote 18 US members of Congress in a public letter last autumn as they asked the Government Accountability Office to review existing rules that limit overseas investment in strategic US industries.然而，最近一些美国国会议员对北京方面在好莱坞的影响力表示担忧。18名议员在去年秋季的一封公开信中提出：“国家安全的定义是否应该扩大，以解决对媒体和软实力机构的宣传及控制的担忧？”他们要求美国政府问责局(US Government Accountability Office)评估现有限制外资投资美国战略行业的制度。Mr Wang’s march has been impressive. After starting in Dalian, he moved nationwide with a chain of Wanda Plaza shopping malls. In 2012 he launched a global entertainment business with the purchase of AMC Entertainment and followed up with a series of other cinema chains. Last year he bought the film studio Legendary Entertainment for $3.5bn.王健林取得的成就引人注目。从大连起步之后，他将业务扩大至全国各地，完成了一系列万达广场项目。2012年，他进军全球娱乐业，收购了AMC娱乐公司(AMC Entertainment)，随后收购了一系列其他院线。去年，他以35亿美元收购了传奇影业(Legendary Entertainment)。He argues that his investments have strategic value to China. “Of course Wanda has contributed significantly to the rise of soft power and cultural influence of China” he said.他认为自己所做的投资对中国具有战略意义。他说：“当然，万达对中国软实力的提升和提升中国的文化自信，是做出了努力，或者说是做了一定贡献的。”However that was not enough to convince the bureaucrats in Beijing, and Mr Wang opted to back out of the Dick Clark deal rather than use funds already held overseas to complete the purchase.然而，这不足以说服中国政府官员。王健林选择放弃迪克?克拉克交易，而不是使用海外已有资金完成收购。“We do not want to become a company that does not abide by the rules,” he explained. Wanda paid a $50m break fee to DCP owner Eldridge Industries.他解释称：“我们不愿意成为一个不守规矩的公司。”万达向迪克?克拉克的所有方Eldridge Industries支付了5000万美元的违约金。Instead, Wanda, like many other Chinese business groups, is refocusing on domestic investments, including an $8bn project to build a massive film studio complex in the port city of Qingdao, what he called “Hollywood of the east”. He has also announced $10bn to invest in a “healthcare park” with two hospitals in the western city of Chengdu.和许多其他中国企业集团一样，万达正在将注意力重新集中到国内投资上，其中包括一个80亿美元的项目，要在港口城市青岛打造一个被王健林称为“东方好莱坞”的大型电影制作综合设施。此外，王健林还宣布，将投资100亿美元在西部城市成都兴建一个拥有两所医院的“医疗产业园”。“The development of domestic business is certainly our main focus,” he said, “because China's entertainment market, tourism market, sports market have just begun. These [domestic] areas must be the focus of our investment.”他说：“在中国的发展肯定是重头戏，因为中国的娱乐市场、旅游市场、体育市场都刚刚开始。肯定这方面是作为我们投资的重点。”Mr Wang insisted that his overseas investments in entertainment were about making money, not stroking his ego, even though some analysts say he overpaid for some of his trophy acquisitions.王健林坚称他在娱乐领域的海外投资是为了赚钱，而不是为了满足自己的虚荣心，尽管一些分析师说他在一些炫目的收购中支付价格过高。“I am not a film-maker, I am a businessman with a film company” he said, and one associate noted, “He only goes to the cinema once a year, with his mother”.王健林说：“我不是电影人，我是一个实业家，我手下有电影公司。”王健林一名同事指出，他一年才去一次电影院，还是陪母亲去的。Mr Wang said he had not even seen The Great Wall, the high-profile film Wanda’s Legendary studio co-produced last year. The movie stars Matt Damon as an English mercenary in medieval China and was panned by critics, but it has nonetheless turned a modest profit. “I have not seen this movie so I really cannot give a specific view. In short we think it did not reach our expectations either in terms of content or the box office” he said.王健林表示他甚至没有看过《长城》(The Great Wall)，这是万达旗下的传奇影业去年合作拍摄的一部备受关注的电影。这部电影由马特?达蒙(Matt Damon)主演，饰演一名在中世纪时代中国的英国雇佣兵。电影受到了评论家的严厉批评，不过还是小有盈利。王健林说：“这个电影还没看，我还真是不能给出具体方面的一个评价。反正总之我们认为它无论是从内容还是票房都没有达到我们的预期。”Richard Huang, an expert on the Chinese entertainment industry at Nomura said the price tag for Legendary was particularly hard to justify, given the company had lost roughly $1bn in 2014 and 2015.
野村证券(Nomura)中国娱乐业专家Richard Huang表示，考虑到传奇影业在2014年和2015年亏损了大约10亿美元，万达收购这家公司的价格尤其说不过去。But Mr Huang added, “I think he looks at things in the longer term. It’s hard to build a global media conglomerate from scratch, and they want to take a short-cut by buying these global media assets. But, in most cases, you cannot buy them cheap because there is generally no urgency to sell by the owners.”不过他也表示：“我认为他是以更长远眼光看待事物的。很难从头打造一个全球传媒集团，他们希望通过收购这些全球传媒资产走一条捷径。然而，在多数情况下，由于所有者通常不急着出售，廉价收购是做不到的。”Asked about the view that he had paid very high prices for AMC and Legendary, Mr Wang did not disagree. “If we’re too cheap in our offer, no one will sell to us” he said. But he pointed out that AMC’s share price had risen 300 per cent since he bought a majority stake in the company.在被问及有关外界认为他高价收购AMC和传奇影业的看法时，王健林并未表示异议。他说：“如果是很便宜，别人也不会卖给我们。”不过他指出，自从他收购AMC的多数股权以来，该公司股价上涨了三倍。