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China's richest man is going for glamour with his latest Hollywood blockbuster.

Billionaire Wang Jianlin is in discussions to acquire control of Dick Clark Productions at a valuation of about $1 billion through his Dalian Wanda Group Co., according to people with knowledge of the situation. Dick Clark Productions would be the latest trophy in an empire that includes theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and movie producer Legendary Entertainment.

If completed, the deal would give China's Wanda the television production company that stages some of Hollywood's glitziest and most popular awards shows, including the Golden Globe Awards and the American Music Awards.

One of the people cautions that the talks are still at an early stage and there remains a valuation gap between the two sides.

Some of the people said that Wanda has been the leading bidder for the company in discussions over recent weeks. However, the talks could still fall apart, and it remains unclear if a competing bid could emerge late in the game. The company has been shopped by Dick Clark Productions' bankers to a number of Chinese buyers including major companies and private-equity firms.

Wanda is known in China primarily as a commercial property developer. But in recent years the company has become an aggressive buyer of entertainment assets overseas—from movie theaters to a production company to sporting events. At home, Wanda is building theme parks to counter Walt Disney Co.'s push into mainland China.

Dick Clark would be Wanda's biggest foray into U.S. television assets and builds on its interest in Hollywood-related deals. TheWrap previously reported that Dick Clark Productions was looking to sell to a Chinese buyer at a $1 billion valuation.

Founded in 1957 by the late television personality, Santa Monica-based Dick Clark Productions was sold to a group of investors led by investment firm Guggenheim Partners in 2012 for an undisclosed value. Late last year, Guggenheim sold Dick Clark Productions and a couple of other media assets to a company controlled by Guggenheim's then-president, Todd Boehly, who took a step back from Guggenheim to man the newly formed company Eldridge Industries. Mr. Boehly, now the CEO of Eldridge, remains on the executive council at Guggenheim.

Wanda, a property-to-entertainment conglomerate, could bring to China some of the world's most viewed live TV programs. The Golden Globes attracted 18.5 million viewers this year, while the 2016 Billboard Music Awards drew about 9.6 million viewers and the 2015 American Music Awards drew about 11 million viewers. Beauty pageant "Miss America," another event run by Dick Clark Productions, also gets millions of domestic American viewers.

Betting on the brand of live event programming owned by Dick Clark Productions holds some risks, given that big awards shows like the Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Oscars experienced ratings drops this year, along with a broader dip in TV ratings. Viewership for the Golden Globes, for instance, slipped 4.2% this year from a year ago.

Despite the recent declines, big television spectacles are still coveted by advertisers looking to reach broad audiences.

The purchase comes after Wanda's failed pursuit this year of a 49% stake in movie studio Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom Inc. Viacom's newly expanded board announced last week that it decided not to sell a stake in Paramount, a plan that had been opposed by controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone.

Wanda's ambitions in Hollywood seemingly have no limits. Early this year, Wanda paid $3.5 billion to take over Legendary Entertainment, which has produced summer blockbusters including "Pacific Rim," "Godzilla" and "Jurassic World."

Mr. Wang also owns the U.S.'s No. 2 movie-theater operator AMC Entertainment, which it bought in 2012 for about $2.6 billion, and is seeking to acquire the Carmike Cinemas chain, which would make him the largest theater operator in the U.S. He also has agreed to buy Europe's largest cinema chain, Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, for $650 million.

In another deal announced last week, Wanda said it was teaming up with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. to help market its films in China. Under the deal, Wanda would promote Sony films to Chinese moviegoers through its ticketing platform and entertainment venues.

Wanda could also showcase Sony films on its more than 2,000 screens in China, and, according to a person familiar with the arrangement, it will have the option to buy a small stake in some films it helps market, if Sony agrees.

Mr. Wang also is building a chain of entertainment theme parks in China, including an Oriental Movie Metropolis in Qingdao that will include film production studios.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com, Rick Carew at rick.carew@wsj.com and Kane Wu at Kane.Wu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 26, 2016 18:15 ET (22:15 GMT)

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