Alibaba Group establishes sports group

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, announced today it has established Alibaba Sports Group together with Sina Corporation and Yunfeng Capital to transform China’s sports industry through Internet-enabled technologies.

Alibaba Sports Group will be majority-owned by Alibaba Group. Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group’s chief executive officer, will serve as chairman of Alibaba Sports Group. Zhang Dazhong, the former vice president of Shanghai Media Group, will serve as Alibaba Sports Group’s chief executive officer.

Alibaba Sports Group aims to leverage Alibaba Group’s vast e-commerce ecosystem, Sina’s media resources and Mr. Zhang Dazhong’s deep experience with China’s new media and sports sectors to create an Internet-based, consumer-centric sports platform that targets to create value for sports industry participants and enhance consumers and sports fans engagement with sports teams and brands.

"Sports has the enduring ability to create shared happiness and encourage healthy lifestyles,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba Group. “Alibaba Sports Group aims to transform the China sports industry through the use of Internet-based technologies to bring greater and better products and services to consumers, sports participants and sports fans alike,” Zhang said.

Alibaba Sports Group expects to integrate e-commerce, media, marketing, video, home entertainment, cloud computing and other Internet-enabled technologies to form a sports platform that will participate in different aspects of the professional sports industry, including sports copyrights, sports media, events, ticketing, etc.

Alibaba Group’s founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, has said that health and happiness are two strategic areas Alibaba Group plans to invest in for future growth and sports stands at the intersection of these two themes. Over the past six months, the world’s top football clubs Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant and other sports companies have entered into partnerships with Alibaba to bring high-quality products and services to Alibaba’s 367 million annual active buyers.

Alibaba Sports CEO Zhang Dazhong is a pioneer in China's new media and sports industries where he played a leading role in the founding of China's first sports specialty channel. Zhang Dazhong was also a critical player in the operations of Shanghai Interactive Television, BesTV and other popular television stations under the Shanghai Media Group.

Taken from Business Wire