Alibaba to sponsor Olympics until 2028

The announcement was made yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach and Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma.

Alibaba’s contributions will include:

• Cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to help the Olympic Games operate more efficiently, effectively and securely, including supporting big-data analytics requirements;
• The creation of a global e-commerce platform for Olympic stakeholders to sell licensed merchandise; 
• The development and customisation of the Olympic Channel for a Chinese audience

According to the IOC, Alibaba is the first Chinese company to make a long-term sponsorship commitment, and one of only three Asian brands in the sponsor list: Coca-Cola, Atos, Bridgestone, Dow, GE, McDonald's, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Toyota, Visa.

At this point, it is also the first Chinese brand to commit to the Olympic Winter Games 2022, held on homeground in Beijing. It is the second time in Olympic history that a Chinese brand has been a top-tier Olympic sponsor, the first time being Lenovo at the 2008 Beijing Games. 

Alibaba’s sponsor activation rights will also include the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 winter games and Tokyo 2020 summer games. These rights will include advertising and promotional use of marks and imagery from the Olympic Games as well as from the National Olympic Committees from various countries.