Tom-com Wins Chinese Basketball Rights

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

03 August 2001

While son Richard Li struggles with stricken giant PCCW, father Li Ka-shing has been having a brilliant week. First his Nasdaq-listed Connecticut Internet travel retailer, Priceline.com Inc., astounded analysts by posting a second quarter profit of $2.8m.

Then Tom.com, Hong Kong-listed media and internet company continued its aggressive push into the mainland sports market by winning broadcast and advertising rights for China's national basketball league. Tom.com beat its main rival, International Merchandising Corp, a subsidiary of International Management Group (IMG). Tom.com said the rights included sponsorship, advertising, TV broadcasts, marketing the website and the ability to leverage images of leading players. The company already owns the mainland franchises for volleyball, table tennis, rowing and college soccer.

Last Saturday, while the company waited for news of its basketball bid, spokeswoman Rachal Chan said: "If we can clinch the deal with CBA then we'll be the largest sports marketing company in China by the number of commercial rights," adding that basketball was the second most popular sport in China after soccer, currently managed by international sports management firm IMG.

Chan declined to speculate how much money tom.com could potentially generate from a CBA deal, saying only that offline businesses, which included outdoor advertising and sports marketing, were responsible for more than 50 percent of tom.com's revenue in year 2000.

All this good news has boosted Li Ka-shing's reputation, who many feared was losing his golden touch. Shares in Priceline soared following its results announcement on Tuesday, along with shares in Li's other companies, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. Shares in tom.com closed nearly 5% higher on Friday at HK$2.15.

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