IOC and Alibaba Group launch historic long-term partnership as Alibaba becomes Worldwide Olympic Partner through 2028
Breakthrough partnership will support the IOC and the Olympic Movement achieve Olympic Agenda 2020 vision in a new digital era
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) today jointly announced a long-term partnership through 2028. Joining The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme, Alibaba will become the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” Partner, as well as a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel.
The partnership was announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with IOC President Thomas Bach, Alibaba Group Founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Alibaba Group Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang.
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, said: “In this new digital world, Alibaba is uniquely positioned to help the IOC achieve a variety of key objectives outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, while positively shaping the future of the Olympic Movement. This is a ground-breaking, innovative alliance, and will help drive efficiencies in the organisation of the Olympic Games through 2028, whilst also supporting the global development of digital opportunities including the Olympic Channel.”
“Alibaba’s partnership with the IOC is built on a foundation of shared values and a common vision for connecting the world and enriching people’s lives,” said Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. “We are proud to support Olympic Agenda 2020, using our innovations and technologies to help evolve the Olympic Games for the digital era.”
Through this partnership, Alibaba’s contributions to the Olympic Movement will include:
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best-in-class cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to help the Olympic Games operate more efficiently, effectively and securely, including supporting big data analytics requirements;
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the creation of a global e-commerce platform for Olympic stakeholders to engage and connect with fans seeking official Olympic licensed products manufactured by the Olympic parties’ official licensees, and selected sports products, on a worldwide basis; and
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leveraging Alibaba’s leading digital media technologies and know-how to develop and customise the Olympic Channel for a Chinese audience.
“Alibaba is proud to empower the International Olympic Committee in a game-changing digital transformation, while moving another step closer toward our goal to serve 2 billion consumers,” said Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group. “We will leverage our experience in serving a young user base to help connect more young people to the Olympic Movement, helping to strengthen our brand through this historic partnership.”
Tsunekazu Takeda, the IOC’s Marketing Commission Chair, said: “We are delighted to be working in the long term with Alibaba for the benefit of the Olympic Movement. This strategic partnership underlines the global appeal of the Olympic values and opens an exciting new chapter in this digital age.”
Alibaba is the first company to make a long-term commitment to the IOC through 2028 and the first Chinese company to commit to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Alibaba will support the organisers of each edition of the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Movement around the world. These rights will include advertising and promotional use of Olympic marks and imagery from the Olympic Games as well as marks from the National Olympic Committees.
Alibaba’s global activation rights will include the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the Olympic and Olympic Winter Games in 2024, 2026 and 2028 in cities yet to be selected by the IOC.
Conference Call Details:
Alibaba Group and the IOC will host a conference call to discuss this new global partnership at 3 p.m. CET / 9 a.m. EST on 19 January 2017.
Dial & Conference ID:
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International: +65 6713 5330
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US: +1 844 760 0770
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UK: +44 203 713 5084
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Hong Kong: +852 3018 8307
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Conference ID: 56463850
A digital recording of the conference call will be available for replay two hours after completion through 22 January. To access:
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Encore Dial-In Numbers: http://www.intercallapac.com/web/encorenumbers
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Conference ID: 56463850
Webcast of Press Conference
The press conference will be webcast live and archived by the World Economic Forum at the following link: https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2017/player?p=1&pi=1&id=87396
About the IOC
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.25 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102 years.
Media contacts:
Alibaba Media Relations Team:
Asia
Rachel Chan
+852 9400 0979
Rico Ngai
+852 9725 9600
US & Europe
Brion Tingler
+1 917 528 1992
Steve Hickok
+1 609 977 7381
For more information and corporate b-roll visit Alibaba’s new corporate site Alizila.com
IOC Media Relations Team:
Tel: +41 21 621 6000
Email: pressoffice@olympic.org
Or visit our website at www.olympic.org
Videos: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/iocmedia
Broadcast quality footage: IOC Newsroom: http://iocnewsroom.com/
Photos: For an extensive selection of photos available shortly after each event, follow IOC on Flickr. To request archive photos and footage, please contact: images@olympic.org