Wang Jianlin serenades employees at corporate gathering

Wang Jianlin, a former military man who is the richest person in China, serenaded employees of his Dalian Wanda Group at a recent corporate gathering.

It’s hard to imagine an American business titan tackling a similar live performance, but Wang, 61, is a noted karaoke fan.

In a video from Wanda’s annual party, Wang sings a love song while smiling and clapping for a gracious crowd.

Wang, who got his start as a real estate developer and has amassed a fortune of $30 billion, has had reason to celebrate in 2016.

The chairman of Dalian Wanda Group announced last week a deal to acquire Legendary Entertainment, one of the production companies behind “The Dark Knight,� “Jurassic World� and “Godzilla� movies.

The $3.5-billion acquisition represents the largest by a Chinese firm of a U.S. production company. Over the last decade, Wang has made big bets on the entertainment industry: Wanda, which bought exhibitor AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion in 2012, is the largest theater operator in the world.

Wang, who was dressed in a blue suit, sang to his employees while women in colorful dresses danced behind him. His performance drew applause from the businesspeople in attendance.

In the video, Wang sang a version of the song “Fake Monk� by Cui Jian, who is considered the godfather of rock music in China.

According to lyricstranslate.com, the song includes lyrics about love and regret: “If you want to love me, don’t worry about regretting it/Because eventually I always leave everything behind.�

Earlier this week, a public relations firm that represents Wanda emailed journalists the video and said that it had “garnered over 200 million hits on social media.�

Times staff writer Scott Sandell contributed to this report.

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