Wanda's Hollywood frontman resigns

Dalian Wanda Group’s frontman in Hollywood has resigned, further clouding the Chinese company’s future in the global entertainment business. The executive, 59-year-old Jack Gao, oversaw Wanda’s international investments as a senior vice president. He also served as interim chief executive of Hollywood production company Legendary Entertainment following the resignation of co-founder Thomas Tull in January. Wanda’s 2016 acquisition of Legendary for $3.5 billion, which Gao helped engineer, was one of six foreign acquisitions that came under fire by Chinese regulators seeking to limit capital outflows. That clampdown led Wanda to retrench its ambitions to become a major player in international entertainment, and was a factor in Gao’s departure, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Gao was notable in that he straddled the line between Hollywood and China. A naturalized US citizen who grew up in China and attended the University of California at Los Angeles, he previously led China operations for Microsoft and later News Corp.