Bruno Wu and Thomas Middelhoff first met on a chilly night on a boat on the Yangtze River in early 2002. A band played as the two men ate, and each ordered a cigar as they discussed the opportunities China might hold if they could pool their resources and expertise.
\nAt the time, Mr Wu\u2019s domestic publishing and television group was growing fast and he owned more than a quarter of Sina.com, the Chinese web portal. Mr Middelhoff was running Bertelsmann, with ambitions to transform the German group through digital deals and international expansion.<\/p>\n
They agreed to combine their media assets in China, increase the stake in Sina.com and invest in two other Chinese internet companies. The plan was cut short months later, however, by Mr Middelhoff\u2019s abrupt exit from Bertelsmann, where the controlling Mohn family had soured on his plans to take the company public.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had done that deal\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009the internet stocks [alone] would have made us $12bn-$15bn today,\u201d says Mr Wu, sitting beside Mr Middelhoff in a New York hotel. Now they are trying again.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s media landscape has changed dramatically in 11 years, particularly when it comes to mobile and social media penetration in its largest cities. Another difference, Mr Middelhoff adds, is that he is no longer acting for somebody else\u2019s family company: \u201cNow it\u2019s about our value, our wealth, what we are building out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He describes the immediate strategy for the two men\u2019s new venture, BT Capital, as \u201cCIA: China, internet and alternative assets.\u201d
\nAt the core will be film and TV businesses amassed by Mr Wu and his wife, Yang Lan, which have expanded through a series of joint ventures announced in the last two years. \u201cWe already control Rmb17m worth of film financing funds,\u201d he notes.
\nHis Seven Stars Media Group has struck co-production deals for English-language action films with the producer of Iron Man, the director of Fast & Furious 6 and the French producer of Grace of Monaco.<\/p>\n
The production pipeline has a strong Chinese flavour, including five new Chinese superhero franchises, a film called Rise of the Terracotta Warriors and a TV series based on material written by Bruce Lee, the late Chinese-American martial arts actor.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great time for new native narrative myths and stories\u201d in China, says Miles Gilburne, Mr Middelhoff\u2019s partner in a digital education company called ePals. \u201cIf you\u2019re able to pulse the ethos of China right now and build those fundamental narratives that really resonate at the consumer level, those are the franchises that last for ever,\u201d he says. After decades of transformative growth, he adds: \u201cit\u2019s the first time that China has the ability to breathe, step back and build [new] narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wu\u2019s international ambitions are clear. He and two partners looked last year at merging and acquiring Miramax and Summit Entertainment, the company behind the Twilight films.<\/p>\n
The breathless pace of his dealmaking and the record of international investors losing their shirts in the US film business has prompted some to question his plans, however. Deadline.com, a Hollywood news site, wrote last month that there had been \u201ca lot of scepticism about his complex network of companies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Wu and Mr Middelhoff emphasise their financial discipline and their expertise in China, a complex but increasingly important market for western content.<\/p>\n
Regulations, censorship and piracy in China have frustrated global media groups for years, but trade between Hollywood and Beijing is growing. Chinese box office revenues have risen at an average 34 per cent a year to hit $2.7 billion last year, according to data released this month.<\/p>\n
Mr Wu says he believes China\u2019s quota system, which caps the number of foreign films that can be released each year, will loosen up in time. \u201cThings are step by step moving forward, very much influenced and affected by the Chinese consumer, who wants content,\u201d Mr Middelhoff adds.<\/p>\n
Both men remain confident in media\u2019s prospects in China even as warnings mount about the sustainability of the country\u2019s economic model.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving [double-digit] GDP growth for 30 years is like you\u2019ve been running a marathon at a 400-metre relay speed for 30 years,\u201d says Mr Wu: \u201cSometimes, if the body runs much faster than the soul it has to slow down for the soul to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.ft.com\/intl\/cms\/s\/0\/7f13eae0-f1f3-11e2-8e04-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2ZkRQWJAV<\/p>\n
Foreign Talent Agency – Provides Foreign Models, Actors, Host, Dancers and A&R Talent in China.\u5916\u56fd\u4eba\u624d\u4e2d\u4ecb\u673a\u6784 – \u63d0\u4f9b\u5916\u7c4d\u6a21\u7279\uff0c\u6f14\u5458\uff0c\u4e3b\u6301\u4eba\uff0c\u821e\u8e48\u5bb6\u548cA\uff06R\u5728\u4e2d\u56fd\u7684\u4eba\u624d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bruno Wu and Thomas Middelhoff first met on a chilly night on a boat on the Yangtze River in early 2002. A band played as the two men ate, and each ordered a cigar as they discussed the opportunities China might hold if they could pool their resources and expertise. At the time, Mr Wu\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[289,49,48,47,46,291,290,292,51],"class_list":["post-5812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-actors","tag-children","tag-china","tag-dancers","tag-foreign","tag-men","tag-all-models","tag-women","tag-51"],"yoast_head":"\n