Dalian Wanda Group Co. has agreed to acquire full ownership of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), which owns the Ironman brand and races, for $650 million. The takeover is reportedly going to make Dalian Wanda the world's biggest operator in the sports business. It already organizes many sports events and represents athletes. It is involved in sports event marketing and rebroadcasting. A leading property and entertainment company owned by Wang Jianlin, rated by Forbes as China's richest man with a fortune of $26 billion, Dalian Wanda recently made two other major foreign acquisitions in the sector. It bought the Atlético Madrid football club. It also spent €1.05 billion to acquire 68.2 percent of Infront Sports & Media from Bridgepoint (see SGI Europe no 26-5+6 of Feb. 2).

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