China’s Wanda to Buy AMC Cinema Chain for $2.6 Billion
Source: Bloomberg
Dalian Wanda Group agreed to buy AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) for $2.6 billion including debt, expanding into the U.S. with a deal that creates the world’s largest cinema chain.
Wanda Group said in a statement today that it plans to invest an added $500 million in Kansas City, Missouri-based AMC, owned by buyout firms including Apollo Global Management LLC. (APO) Wanda Group, based in Beijing, is controlled by billionaire real-estate developer Wang Jianlin.
The deal unites the No. 2 theater chain in the largest market, the U.S., with the biggest player in China, among the fastest-growing. Wanda’s move underscores the growing ties between the U.S. and Chinese film industries, which benefited from a slew of cross-Pacific deals this year.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-21/china-s-wanda-group-to-buy-amc-cinema-chain-for-2-6-billion.html
It looks like China is starting to have more influence in the United States.
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(Reuters) - Across the country more than 2,700 companies are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers - and are keeping the money with the states' approval, says an eye-opening report published on Thursday.
The report from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit taxpayer watchdog organization funded by Ford, Surdna and other major foundations, identifies 16 states that let companies divert some or all of the state income taxes deducted from workers' paychecks. None of the states requires notifying the workers, whose withholdings are treated as taxes they paid.
General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and AMC Theatres enjoy deals to keep state taxes deducted from their workers' paychecks, the report shows. Foreign companies also enjoy such arrangements, including Electrolux, Nissan, Toyota and a host of Canadian, Japanese and European banks, Good Jobs First says.
Why do state governments do this? Public records show that large companies often pay little or no state income tax in states where they have large operations, as this column has documented. Some companies get discounts on property, sales and other taxes. So how to provide even more subsidies without writing a check? Simple. Let corporations keep the state income taxes deducted from their workers' paychecks for up to 25 years.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/12/us-column-dcjohnston-report-idUSBRE83B0XQ20120412
It looks like state taxes taken out of my paycheck will now be going to China...
