China :: Business :: Deals

Donald Trump got "fake news" in the U.S., and you know what? Walt Disney got "Fake Deals" in China. In 2013, Meng Dekai, a Disney executive in China, signed a deal with the mayor of Hefei to build a $1.3 billion “Disney cultural and industrial park.” It was one of several agreements with multiple cities in China that Mr. Meng apparently signed. The only problem: He was not allowed to do so. The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it had parted ways with Mr. Meng — it did not say whether he resigned or was fired — after opening an investigation into allegations that he had signed deals with local governments for Disney-related projects. The brazenness of the apparent duplicity highlights the risks for foreign companies operating in China, where counterfeiting and corruption are still rampant despite repeated government campaigns to crack down. Reports of Mr. Meng’s deals across the country have also led to widespread confusion about Disne...

“It’s kind of surreal being here.” The general sentiment, no doubt, of most people on planet Earth right now, but the words of Matt Damon at the premiere of his latest film this year. The reason for his befuddlement? The film was  The Great Wall , for which he had moved to China for half a year with his family. But the premiere was taking place beneath the extravagant pagoda of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. From actual China to Los Angeles’s idea of China — no wonder Damon found it weird. Yet, as so often happens in Hollywood, the weird could well become the way of things.  The Great Wall  and its premiere are the result of what is becoming one of the most significant partnerships in show business, between the American and the Chinese film industries. Other actors will have to make the 10,500km journey between LA and Shanghai. Strangely, this is a partnership founded on mistrust. For years, China’s communist regime took a dim view of the lumi...

Not exactly a business ... Still a big deal nonetheless. A Hong Kong heir to a property fortune has been ordered to pay his ex-wife more than HK$ 1.22 billion (US$ 157 million) in one of the city's biggest divorce settlements, Hong Kong media reported Friday. High Court Justice John Saunders ruled yesterday that Samathur Li Kin-kan, the son of billionaire Samuel Tak Lee, pay Florence Tsang Chiu-wing HK$ 1.22 billion -- which represents 20 percent of the couple's assets when applying the "sharing principle." The settlement is slightly more than half the amount demanded by Tsang. Saunders said the couple lived a "lifestyle best described as just below that of a US-dollar billionaire", and ruled that Tsang, a 38-year-old solicitor, should be kept in the comfort to which she had become accustomed. Tsang reacted to the decision with "cheers and a broad smile", reports said. "I'm delighted that the proceedings have now concluded,...