Alibaba Buys Into China’s Top Soccer Team as Ma Follows Ballmer
Members of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club celebrate after scoring a goal against... Read More
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to buy half of China’s most popular soccer team, which won the Asia championship last year, as founder Jack Ma follows the paths of other tech billionaires getting into professional sports.
Alibaba will pay 1.2 billion yuan ($192 million) to Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. (3333) for a 50 percent stake in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, the companies announced today at a briefing attended by Ma. Evergrande shares rose to the highest in almost two months.
The investment comes as China’s largest e-commerce company prepares for what could be the biggest initial public offering ever later this year. Ma will join the ranks of other tech executives running sports teams, including Mark Cuban of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, and former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, who recently announced a $2 billion deal to buy the Los Angeles Clippers.
“The reason we will get into soccer is because at Alibaba our strategy is health and happiness,” Ma said at the briefing in Guangzhou. “Investing in soccer is investing in happiness.”
The deal comes after Alibaba recently announced deals in finance, online drug data services and entertainment. Alibaba said in March it would invest about $692 million in Intime Retail Group Co., owner of department stores and supermarkets, as the operator of the Taobao and Tmall marketplaces integrates online and offline shopping.
Hui Ka Yan, billionaire and chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd.
Asia Champion
Alibaba bought a 10 percent stake in Singapore Post Ltd. to develop its logistics in Southeast Asia in May.
“That one is the best team,” said Victoria Mio, a fund manager at Robeco Hong Kong Ltd., which has about $290 billion of assets under management. “It’s a good brand. If they can make a case for building a brand name and a customer base, or user base there, then there might be case for it.”
Evergrande plans to seek another 20 investors for the club as the next step, Chairman Hui Ka Yan said.
The developer’s shares rose 3.6 percent to HK$3.73, its highest intraday level in more than six weeks, as of 1:05 p.m. in Hong Kong. That compared with a 0.2 percent decline in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
Under Marcello Lippi, Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese side to win the AFC Champions League in 2013 and has won three straight Chinese league titles.
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