Oct. 31, 2015, — Mr. Wang Jianlin, Chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, was invited to speak at Harvard Business School on Friday. The talk titled Going Global The “Wanda” Way attracted about 900 students. Mr. Wang talked about ambitious goals of making Wanda first-rate global company in real-estate, high-end hotel, entertainment and sports.
Mr. Wang speaks at HBS (file photo).
Introduced by Professor William Kirby, Mr. Wang Jianlin was engaged in conversation by Professor Willy Shih. He then took questions from students in the audience. The video below is provided by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
In the 21:10 clip, Prof. Shih asked a controversial questions about investment by relatives of President Xi Jinping, reported by New York Times. Mr. Wang clarified that Mr. Deng Xiangui, brother-in-law of President Xi, bought some pre-IPO shares of Wand Commercial Real Estate Co. in 2009 along with a dozen of other investors. Mr. Deng sold these shares in late 2014, two months before the stock’s IPO in Hong Kong, and didn’t make much money. “This demonstrates that President Xi is very stict in managing the country, and even stricter in managing his family,” said Mr. Wang.
A Wanda Plaza urban complex integrating retail, leisure, hotels and residential units can be found in almost every major Chinese city. In entertainment, Wanda is known as known as the world’s largest cinema chain operator, notably as the owner of AMC Entertainment. Wanda have even expanded into sports with the recent purchase of the Ironman Triathlon.
This event is sponsored by the Harvard Business School Greater China Club, Harvard Business School Asia Business Club, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard China Fund, Harvard China Forum, and the Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association.