Shares in China sportswear supplier Xtep ended the week at a new record high today after the company announced investment hook-ups with China private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Management, one of China’s largest private equity firms.
Xtep’s Hong Kong-traded shares rose 5.6% to HK$13.16 today; they’ve more than doubled since mid-May.
Xtep said it would raise HK$500 million from the sale to Hillhouse of bonds that can be converted into its own underlying shares. In addition, subsidiary Xtep Global raised $65 million from Hillhouse from the sale of bonds that can be converted into that unit’s shares. (See announcements here and here.) Funds will help boost sales of Xtep-owned brands.
The doubling of Xtep’s stock price has lifted the fortune of company’s controlling Ding family to $2.3 billion. Trusts held by chairman Ding Shui Bo, executive director Ding Mei Qing (his sister) and executive director Ding Ming Zhong (his brother) collectively own 1.3 billion shares that were worth $2.2 billion today. Xtep’s annual report doesn’t give a clear down of the ownership split among them. Shui Bo has another 60.7 million shares worth another $103 million.
Spending on sportswear in China has picked up amid a continuing economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Xtep, whose rivals include Anta and Nike, said in April first-quarter sales had a mid-50% increase compared with a year earlier. Nike has faced backlash in China after a statement in March expressed concern about alleged forced labor practices its Xinjiang region.
Hillhouse is led by billionaire Zhang Lei, who is worth $3 billion today on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
I’m a senior editor and the Shanghai bureau chief of Forbes magazine. Now in my 20th year at Forbes, I compile the Forbes China Rich List. I was previously a correspondent for Bloomberg News in Taipei and Shanghai and for the Asian Wall Street Journal in Taipei. I’m a Massachusetts native, fluent Mandarin speaker, and hold degrees from the University of Vermont and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Xtep engages mainly in the design, development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and brand management of sports equipment, including footwear, apparel, and accessories. Xtep is a leading professional sports brand with an extensive distribution network of over 6,300 stores covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the PRC and overseas.
In 2019, Xtep has further diversified its brand portfolio which now includes four internationally brands, namely K-Swiss, Palladium, Saucony and Merrell. Xtep is a constituent of the MSCI China Small Cap Index, Hang Seng Composite Index Series and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.
In August 2019, Xtep signed on famous Asian basketball player Jeremy Lin as spokesperson, marking its foray into the basketball business realm. Xtep also unveiled its “Basketball Product Co-Creation Plan” to come up with basketball products via product co-creation.
When Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahçe asks fans like Tolga Babuz for money there is no doubt about him reaching for his wallet.
Facing debts of $370 million, hit by the coronavirus suspension of play and struggling with an already high wage bill, the club called for direct donations via text message.
Sending ‘1907’-the year of the club was established-to a special number gives Fenerbahçe 20 Turkish Lira, around $3.
“If the club is campaigning for something, it is our duty to join it”, Babuz says.
He did not hesitate in sending multiple texts, not only on his behalf, but in honour of his infant children and deceased father.
It’s not the first time the club has asked fans directly for money.
Despite being listed on the Turkish Stock Market and having been granted many lines of generous credit from the banks, Fenerbahçe is well-versed in fan-based fundraising.
Back in 2016, Babuz, who considers himself a ‘fanatic’ or ultra, saw every item in a downtown merchandise store bought by diehard fans, after calls for financial support.
Even the air-conditioning unit was unscrewed from the wall and carried off by a paying supporter.
Crowdfunding appeals may have raised sums in the short-term, but one figure which is harder to alter is the money owed to the banks.
Big signing addiction
Manchester Uniteds international striker Dutch Robin Van Persie waves to Fenerbahce’s fans during a … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
The Istanbul giant is the 6th most indebted in Europe and has consistently lost money. Yet it cannot shake the habit of making flagship signings of players in the twilights of their careers.
From Nani to Martin Skrtel, Robin Van Persie to Mathieu Valbuena, players have queued up for a final pay-day by the Bosphorus.
But paying the giant wages these stars expect has pushed the club further and further into the red.
Not that the Istanbul giants are alone, bitter inter-city rivals Galatasaray and Besiktas have similarly large debt piles, having taken the same approach to player recruitment.
Trabzonspor from the Black Sea, which is considered the country’s fourth superpower, is also drowning in debt.
“These four clubs dominate Turkish football”, says leading soccer economist in Turkey Tugrul Aksar.
“[But they] do not seem to be able to solve their own financial problems because there are big gaps between total revenue and expenses.
“It is not possible to solve problems without generating new sources of income. Cash flows are insufficient, shareholders’ equity is negative, their debts are more than their income and their accumulated losses are about TL 4.5 billion, around $750 million.”
Aksar’s assessment of what would happen to the clubs if they played in a different country is blunt: “They would probably go bankrupt and be relegated.”
Helping ‘the family’
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – SEPTEMBER 01: A child fan of Fenerbahce during the Turkish Super Lig match … [+]
Getty Images
The idea that clubs might ask fans to donate to their soccer club at a time of national crisis is not universally embraced.
In countries like the U.K., the backlash against teams seen to be cashing in on fan’s goodwill has been extreme, even at teams where financial resources are tight.
English third division side Sunderland caused uproar by refusing to refund supporters season tickets for the remainder of the season. A decision which was subsequently reversed.
There was also a huge public outcry when Liverpool and Tottenham attempted to make use of the British government’s coronavirus support scheme-where the government paid a proportion of employees salaries to safeguard jobs. This also prompted U-turns by both organizations.
Players, the argument goes, should take a pay cut before others step in to support the club.
In Turkey, the mentality of supporters is different.
“I felt as if I was helping my family”, says Fenerbahçe fan and club member Ergün Bülbül.
“I supported with SMS [text message], I also sent money by bank transfer.”
“It is necessary to think as a whole, both the football player, the fan and the club should make a sacrifice.”
But as Fenerbahçe asked fans to donate, faced with what looks like a perilous financial scenario, rumours of a big-money move for the world’s most famous player of Turkish descent kicked into overdrive.
‘No explanation for this’
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – MAY 29: A Fenerbache fan holds up a sign asking Mesut Ozil of Arsenal to join his … [+]
Getty Images
World Cup winner and Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil has long been rumoured to fancy a move to Fenerbahçe.
So it didn’t take long for speculation to begin that the crowdfunding SMS initiative could be used to fund a move for Ozil.
Hardcore supporters know such claims are hopeful at best, the target of the text campaign is to reach one million messages, which would be about $3m.
That wouldn’t even cover a month’s wages for Ozil whose current deal with Arsenal is an estimated $800,000 per week.
But the relentless need to spend big on a star player, regardless of the consequences or financial position, is a constant issue for Turkish soccer’s big four.
In January 2019, the banks whom Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Besiktas and Trabzonspor owe a combined TL 10 billion ($1.4bn), restructured their debts.
The aim was to get the vast sums owed under control.
Rather than helping to shift the approach, it prompted another summer of spending.
Currently I am head of content at Construction News, specialising in investigations. I have led numerous collaborations with major media outlets. These include an undercover slave labour expose with the BBC, a Financial Times report which uncovered a sexual assault scandal and an international investigation into worker deaths on the world’s biggest airport with Architects’ Journal. My work has been longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2020 and I was a finalist at the 2019 British Journalism Awards. I was named International Building Press’ Journalist of the Year 2019 and awarded the IBP Scoop of the Year and Construction/Infrastructure Writer of the Year prizes.
Follow me on Twitter @JournoZak and email me at zakgarnerpurkis@gmail.com
Austerity has shaken the Turkish Süper Lig. Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, & Galatasaray face pressure from UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, while a currency crisis and economic downturn has added to a wider sense of malaise. The Turkish game is now probably in its worst ever financial state.
Reebok has led the charge of brands and athletes cutting ties with fitness firm CrossFit, after founder and CEO Greg Glassman controversially tweeted “It’s Floyd-19” in response to a tweet about racism being a public health issue.
Reebok ended its exclusive ten-year deal as the main CrossFit sponsor and licensee of CrossFit apparel.
The sportswear giant said in a statement: “Our partnership with CrossFit HQ comes to an end later this year. Recently, we have been in discussions regarding a new agreement, however, in light of recent events, we have made the decision to end our partnership with CrossFit HQ.”
Professional CrossFit athlete Rich Froning, who has won the CrossFit Games four times, criticized Glassman’s comments to his 1.4 million Instagram followers, saying the last few days made it “impossible to stay loyal to leadership who make callous statements that alienate and divide in a time when unity is needed.”
CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey said she was “incredibly saddened, disappointed and frustrated” at the company and Glassman, adding: “My future with Crossfit is unclear and depends on the direction of HQ.”
Other CrossFit Athletes including last year’s second place competitor, Noah Ohlsen, announced he would not compete in this year’s games.
CrossFit affiliate gym Rocket CrossFit, based in Seattle, is one of at least 200 linked gyms to disaffiliate with the company, and in a blog post published a profanity-laden letter from Glassman that attacked the gym’s co-owner, Alyssa Royse, of trying to brand CrossFit as “racist.”
CrossFit games supplier Rogue Fitness, which provides strength training equipment to the event, said it would remove the CrossFit logo from this year’s event and will “work with CrossFit Games leadership to determine the best path forward.”
News peg
Glassman sparked outrage on Sunday after referring to the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody as “It’s FLOYD-19.” His tweet was a direct reply to a post from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that read: “Racism and discrimination are critical public health issues that demand an urgent response. #BlackLivesMatter.” Glassman later apologized on the CrossFit twitter page, saying: “I, CrossFit HQ, and the CrossFit community will not stand for racism. I made a mistake by the words I chose yesterday. My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.” As of Monday morning, Glassman’s original tweet on his personal account is still live.
Key background
Before Glassman’s tweet, CrossFit had stayed noticeably silent on Twitter and Instagram on the Black Lives Matter movement as a host of companies publicly took a stand on anti-racism following Floyd’s death. CrossFit has previously pledged public support for the LGBT community, as well as dedicating its “Hero” workouts to fallen soldiers.
I am a breaking news reporter for Forbes in London, covering Europe and the U.S. Previously I was a news reporter for HuffPost UK, the Press Association and a night reporter at the Guardian. I studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, where I was a writer and editor for one of the university’s global affairs magazines, the London Globalist. That led me to Goldsmiths, University of London, where I completed my M.A. in Journalism. Got a story? Get in touch at isabel.togoh@forbes.com, or follow me on Twitter @bissieness. I look forward to hearing from you.
Rugby mania is coursing through Japan. It’s not just the sudden of burst of generously sized foreigners wandering around Tokyo, Sapporo and Kumamoto. Japan’s national team is beating virtually all expectations, even besting top-ranked Ireland.
Yet the Rugby World Cup is really a dry run for the main event of Shinzo Abe’s premiership: the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Hosting the Summer Games is a career topper for Abe, whose grandfather, the former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, brought the 1964 Olympics to Tokyo. Fifty-five years on, that event still enjoys a bull market in nostalgia. It marked Japan’s return to the world stage from the ashes of war and humiliating defeat.
And wow, did it ever. Japan’s futuristic bullet trains, avant-garde stadiums and neon-lit skylines captured the global imagination. The nation hadn’t just risen, phoenix-like, it was suddenly setting the technological tone, serving as a preview for Japan’s economic boom of the 1970s and 1980s.
Can Japan do it again? Doubtful. In fact, there are valid reasons to worry next year’s Olympics might do more to limit Japan’s potential than unleash it.
For Abe, scoring the Olympics was partly about unfinished family business. Though his beloved grandfather secured the 1964 Games, history has been less kind on account of Kishi’s wartime exploits. He was part of the cabinet of Hideki Tojo that ordered the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. In the mid to late 1930s, Kishi played various senior roles in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. It was a ghastly and brutal an episode as historians found amid World War II. Kishi beat the odds–and war-crime charges. He became prime minister in 1957.
Much of what’s driven Abe in politics can be described as Kishi legacy rehabilitation. In Abe’s first stint as leader from 2006 to 2007–and in the current one since 2012–he’s worked to whitewash Japan’s wartime aggression. Securing the 2020 Games was in part a historical bookmark to open yet another period of rebirth–this time from a two-decade deflationary malaise.
Might Japan be courting a post-2020 funk instead? I don’t just mean the debt-laden hangover from giant and costly facilities that will go underused. It’s more the 1964-like magical thinking behind the dialogue surrounding Tokyo 2020.
Indonesia’s bid for the 2032 Olympics has a certain logic. Surely, its infrastructure needs could benefit from becoming the fourth Asian nation to host the Games after Japan, South Korea and China. But Japan’s construction boom amounts to redundant upgrades to already highly developed megacities.
Japan has long since been discovered. A weaker yen, relaxed visa restrictions and aggressive marketing already morphed Japan into a tourism mecca. In 2018, Japan welcomed more than 31 million tourist arrivals, equal to one-quarter of the population. Already, cities like Kyoto are studying ways to limit tourism, or ease the side effects from overcrowding to pollution.
Asia’s No. 2 economy doesn’t need stadiums, but a societal transformation. It needs to rekindle its innovative spirits, increase gender diversity, reduce rigidities across industries, improve productivity and welcome more foreign talent to offset an aging and shrinking population–talent that stays on long after the five-ring circus of sporting events leaves town.
Abe views Tokyo 2020 as the key to the “revitalization of Japan.” The city’s governor, Yuriko Koike, says the Olympics can “usher in a new Tokyo.” But where are the underlying politics to bring about this epochal change? A few weeks of events will come and go. Japan, though, will be stuck with the same dismal demographics, the same crushing debt load, the same overbearing bureaucracy and the same risk aversion that starves it of a vibrant tech startup scene.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games “One Year To Go” ceremony at Tokyo International Forum on
Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images
In the magical thinking of Abe’s inner circle, 2020 is a, well, game-changer. Just as 1964 was a chance for his grandfather’s generation to showcase technological advancements, 2020 is Abe’s moment to display Japan’s “Society 5.0” street cred. Trouble is, China, Korea and Indonesia also are moving upmarket and innovating. Indonesia, for example, has already produced twice as many “unicorns” as Japan.
Japanese society often does a poor job keeping up with technological change. A few weeks of medal ceremonies, it’s worth noting, will do little to restore Japan to its 1980s innovative greatness. It won’t increase productivity, internationalize corporate practices or end senior-based promotion practices that reward mediocrity. It won’t morph Tokyo into a global financial center or endear Japan Inc. stocks to overseas investors.
The Olympics won’t usher in a pro-growth energy policy that moves Japan away from coal and nuclear reactors. It won’t prod millennials or General Z members to take greater risks. It won’t narrow the gender pay gap or challenge Japan’s patriarchy. And it won’t incentivize companies to boost wages, kicking off the virtuous cycle Abe hoped to generate.
Only bold, forward-looking reforms can generate the upgrades needed to restore Japan to vitality. The economics of nostalgia in which Abe’s government is indulging only treats the symptoms of why Japan’s economy has underperformed for 20 years.
Sure, Japan is politically and societally stable. Nor have deflation and stagnant wages led to the kind fissures–crime remains low and homelessness rare–they might emerge elsewhere. But in the Chinese era, Japan has two choices. One, accept lower living standards as regional upstarts boom. Two, ramp up innovation that creates new jobs and wealth.
Clearly, option No. 2 is the wiser route. But if Tokyo thinks the Olympics is the answer, it’s setting itself up for failure. How did the 2016 Games work out for Brazil? Or 2012 for a United Kingdom torching its future with the brawl over Brexit?
Did the 2008 Games revolutionize China, which has become even more of a black box since then? In 2004, Greece won a gold medal for overspending and hastened the onset of a financial crisis from which it’s still extricating itself.
Japan isn’t courting a crisis. But history is almost sure to show that the seven years between winning the Games in 2013 and the actual event were a lost period for major policy moves to ensure forward motion. Japan needs to level the playing fields, not just provide a few for visiting athletes.
I am a Tokyo-based journalist, former columnist for Barron’s and Bloomberg and author of “Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades.” My journalism awards include the 2010 Society of American Business Editors and Writers prize for commentary.
Next stop: Tokyo! The Winter Olympics in PyeongChang just had their closing ceremony and that means the world turns it’s attention to Japan. The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games are 2 years away, and here is what we know right now. ▶︎ WHEN ARE THE TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES? July 24, 2020 to August 9, 2020 ▶︎ The New National Stadium It’s built on the same site as the 1964 Olympic Stadium. Designed by Kengo Kuma, it’s a very natural design surrounded by a lot of trees and parks. ▶︎ The Venues: There are 34 Venues separated into 2 zones. ▶︎ Heritage and Tokyo Bay: The Heritage zone is where the 1964 Olympics took place. Tokyo Bay is where the aquatics center, BMX and Skateboard course will be as well as other event. There are 12 events outside of these zones including foot / soccer, baseball, basketball. ▶︎ Ticket Prices for Tokyo 2020 Olympics: The average ticket price will be 7,700 yen ($72) and the opening and closing ceremonies will be between 25,000 yen ($235) and 150,000 yen ($1,400). Tickets will be sold online and at designated ticket centers in Tokyo. There are 33 sports for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics including 5 new ones: Aquatics, Archery, Athetics, Badminton, Baseball / Softball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Field Hockey, Football / Soccer, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Karate Modern pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby sevens, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Sport climbing, Surfing, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling Within these sports, there are 324 events. Football / soccer actually starts 2 days before the opening ceremonies. URL: https://tokyo2020.org/en/ ★ ONLY in JAPAN on instagram: http://instagram.com/onlyinjapantv Music credits: “Running Fanfare” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b… Enter the Party by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-… Artist: http://incompetech.com/
When Coco Gauff drilled a crosscourt backhand passing shot during the first set of her match Thursday night at the US Open, the crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium roared its approval.
About two hours later, the crowd, which included Kobe Bryant and C.C. Sabathia, roared again when Gauff ended a raucous, back-and-forth match by finishing off qualifier Timea Babos of Hungary, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in 2 hours, 23 minutes to advance to the third round on Saturday.
There Gauff will likely make her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut against world No. 1 and defending US Open champion Naomi Osaka. The 15-year-old Gauff has now made $163,000 by advancing to the third round of her home Slam. She’s the youngest player to reach the third round at the Open since Anna Kournikova made the fourth in 1996.
“I don’t have any thoughts on it right now because I have to play doubles tomorrow with Caty [McNally] so I’m really focused on that,” Gauff told the crowd of the Osaka match. “Saturday I’m going to think about the match but tomorrow I’m worried about my doubles match.”
Osaka, who beat Serena Williams in last year’s controversial final, looked ahead to Gauff after her 6-2, 6-4 victory earlier Thursday over Magda Linette.
“Yeah, she’s super sweet and I would love to play her, of course,” Osaka said. “For me, when I hear people talking about someone, I want to have the opportunity to play them just to assess it for myself.”
Timea Babos, of Hungary, yells after winning a point against Coco Gauff, of the United States, during the second round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gauff was the biggest story at the Open on Thursday night, especially after Rafael Nadal won his match in a walkover and never played his night match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Tennis was played there but fans with grounds passes and general admission seating flooded in to the upper bowl of Armstrong to focus on Gauff, who made a magical run to the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this summer.
But this is New York, not Wimbledon. And Gauff is showing she can make it here, too.
At one point as she was serving during the second set, the 7-train loudly rolled by behind Gauff but it didn’t seem to bother her at all. She held serve without issue.
Throughout the match, fans came and went from their seats even as play was beginning, perhaps to pick up an evening cocktail or two.
“It’s been amazing,” she said of the atmosphere. “Timea, she played so good and I’m so happy that I was able to get through, she played amazing.
“I was tested a lot. I think we were both just testing each other. If I didn’t win that last point maybe she would’ve won the match. It was just that type of match where anyone could have won.”
Bryant, who watched Osaka’s match alongside Colin Kaepernick, jumped into the ESPN booth for the Gauff match and heaped praise on the 15-year-old.
“At 15, God knows I wasn’t like that,” Bryant, a former teenage star himself, said on air.
He was asked to expound upon the differences between an individual sport like tennis and a team sport like basketball.
He said that in tennis you’re “constantly negotiating with yourself,” whereas “in team sports you have guys that can pick you up.”
Earlier he said he was impressed by Gauff’s poise and composure at such a young age.
“She’s a phenomenon for sure,” he said.
Coco Gauff, of the United States, eyes the ball during a match against Timea Babos, of Hungary, during the second round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gauff is already surrounded by an elite inner circle that includes Patrick Mouratoglou, who coaches Serena Williams and is advising Gauff, and Tony Godsick, Roger Federer’s agent. Both sat in her player box.
“The things in common is they have to go into the match with the right mindset,” Mouratoglou said on air of Gauff and Williams. “But the right mindset for Coco is different for Serena.”
He added that for Gauff, that meant being “happy about what she’s doing,” whereas for Williams it was “more intellectual and more tactical.” Williams has to “fight against the pressure that is enormous on her shoulders.”
Williams, of course, continues to bid for career major No. 24, having lost three Grand Slam finals since becoming a mother, one of which came to Osaka in last year’s US Open final.
Now it will be Gauff who gets a shot at Osaka, the 21-year-old two-time major champion who has what Gauff eventually wants.
“Naomi Osaka is waiting in the wings,” 18-time Grand Slam champion Chrissie Evert said on air. “That is going to get everybody pumped up if that happens.”
I’m a Basketball Insider and tennis writer. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), I am also the author of two books and an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. My articles have appeared in SLAM, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. I also won an Emmy award for my work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, I have competed in numerous National and World Championships. My Death or Glory (DoG) team won the GGM World Championship in 2018, and my teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championship in 2011 and 2013. I live in Manhattan with my wife and children.
