Youku Sports and PP Sports to form joint venture

Youku Sports, part of the Alibaba Group, and PP Sports, a subdivision of Suning Group, have formed a joint venture with their respective business segments merging and restructuring.

According to a person familiar with the situation, the merger will officially be announced in July, with the majority of the joint venture held by Alibaba Group. It has been learned that the joint venture has already started its recruitment process.

An employee from PP Sports disclosed that the assets used by each employee are being tallied, including computers and that the HR department from Suning Group have been talking to commissioned students, those that will return to their hometown after their contracts expire, that if they choose to remain with PP Sports, they will no longer be part of Suning Group.

Yutang Sports believe that investing in sports IP and in the rights of sports IP is fundamentally different. Investing in the rights of sports IP is mainly comprised of broadcasting rights, and these broadcasting rights will expire some time in the future. This will be the biggest challenge faced by the newly formed joint venture.

Reference: LatePost

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick