(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- After serving nine months as interim chief executive (CEO) of Legendary Entertainment -- also known as Legendary Pictures -- Jack Gao, senior vice president of Dalian Wanda Group Co., recently left it.

Gao previously worked for News Corp. and Microsoft Corp. [NASDAQ:MSFT], and was known in the industry as the Man of IT and Media Circles. He joined Wanda Group in 2015, serving as vice president of Wanda Cultural Industry Group and CEO of its international division. 

Wanda Group announced the purchase of Legendary Pictures for USD3.5 billion in January last year, which was by then the largest acquisition of an overseas cultural enterprise by a mainland Chinese film. US media organization Hollywood Reporter designated Gao, one of the deal's architects, among its Most Powerful People in Hollywood last year. He was the only Chinese to make the list.

Sources confirmed Gao's departure from Wanda Group to Yicai Global, but without disclosing additional details.

Legendary Pictures performance was lackluster ideal following its acquisition by Wanda. It produced two blockbuster films last year, Warcraft and The Great Wall. Warcraft raked in CNY1.472 billion in box office in China, but only earned USD47.36 million (CNY300 million) in North America. The Great Wall, co-produced by China and the US with USD150 million investment, has fallen short CNY1.2 billion in box office receipts in China, and less than USD50 million in the US, where it reported a loss of USD75 million.  

After defeat in a series of projects that seemingly held forth stellar prospects, Legendary Pictures founder, chairman and CEO Thomas Tull announced his resignation in January, at which juncture Gao took over the post of interim CEO of Legendary Pictures. Tull declined to divulge the financial ins and outs or say whether he retained stock in the company, as Forbes.com reported Jan. 12, 2016, leaving pundits to speculate as to whether he had sniffed the wind and cut and run.

With China zooming in on its scrutiny of overseas investment -- not least because of the Legendary deal that some analysts deemed overpriced by a factor of three -- Wanda Group's overseas acquisitions are also facing an awkward situation. In mid-June this year, the China Banking Regulatory Commission started requiring banks to investigate the risk circumstances of several private enterprises active in overseas investment in recent years, including Wanda Group, HNA Group Co. and Fosun Group Co.

Chastened, Wanda Group founder Wang Jianlin issued a public mea culpa, and pledged that the company will henceforth leave its primary investments at home.