Apr. 3 (NBD) -- Chinese multinational conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd (Dalian Wanda) has changed its four core business groups from Commercial Properties, Cultural Industry Group, Internet Technology and Financial Group to Commercial Management Group, Cultural Industry Group, Real Estate Group and Financial Group.

The adjustment in Dalian Wanda's business structure goes in accordance with the comment made by the company's Chairman Wang Jianlin at the annual meeting of 2017.

Wang said at the meeting that in order to transform and to meet the demand of the capital market, his company planned to adjust the managerial structure. According to Wang, the Beijing-based conglomerate is to become an owner as well as a operator of commercial properties, and the restructuring is to make its strategy clearer, business model purer and market valuation higher.

Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, explained that the structure adjustment results partly from Dalian Wanda's internal reform and partly from the external pressure.

In Yan's opinion, as the market changes, the company spins off its business units accordingly so as to meet the market demand. Although Dalian Wanda has been seeking for the light-asset path, yet its traditional real estate businesses still goes around. The set-up of the new real estate group embodies the company's investment philosophy, Yan noted.

It's also noticed that the stepping-down of Wanda Internet Technology Group (Wanda Internet Technology) from the core business groups stands out as the most significant change in Dalian Wanda's restructuring.

Wanda Internet Technology, founded in 2016, was regarded as the important achievement of Dalian Wanda's fourth "transformation and upgrading". It was once highly valued by Wang Jianlin who brought up the strategy of building China's only industry + internet open platform.

The internet technology unit encompasses businesses of digital commerce, smart life, financial technology and public cloud service.

In the timetable of Wang Jianlin, Wanda Internet Technology should turn profitable in 2018, report over 10 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in profit and get listed in 2020. However, the development of the internet technology group didn't progress smoothly, especially its core business - e-commerce platform Feifan.

Li Chengdong, an e-commerce analyst, said to NBD that Feifan encounters similar problems facing traditional retailers which are shifting towards internet retailing. The problems include unstable team, ambiguous business model and severe loss.

Li noted that the business strategy of Feifan was drawn on the basis of the requirements of the commercial ecosystem of Dalian Wanda rather than customer needs, which is the major reason behind the poor development of the e-commerce arm.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn