The Beijing-based firm was once on a massive shopping spree, blazing a trail of acquisitions around the globe in its aim to become one of the world’s largest financial groups. Anbang’s Wu even said he wanted the company to have a presence on every continent over the next decade in a 2015 speech at Harvard University.
Anbang made a splash in 2014 with its $2 billion purchase of New York’s iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel as it sought to branch out from its core financial business. But its global expansion has hit a snag as recent deals have tanked — last year, Anbang lost its bid for Starwood Hotels to Marriott International, and this year, it failed to acquire Fidelity & Guaranty Life.
More recently, Wu was reported to be in talks with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to invest in a New York skyscraper project, but those discussions also fell through.
Wu is married to the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese patriarch who championed opening up China, helping the country become the world’s second-largest economy.
Wu has generally stayed out of the public eye. But in an unusual move, he granted an interview to a Beijing newspaper last week, Anbang confirmed to CNBC, in efforts to dispel rumors that he was in detention and that his firm was under government investigation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a wide crackdown on corruption since taking up his post in 2013. Critics say it’s merely house cleaning of opponents, while others have championed the campaign to wipe out malfeasance.
Caixin magazine has reported extensively on corruption and has even gone after Beijing for censorship. The publication’s editor, Hu, is reported to have strong ties with top Communist Party brass, including a longtime association with China’s anti-corruption czar, Wang Qishan.
—CNBC’s Barry Huang contributed to this report.