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.

Follow @DanielNMiller for film business news