Chinese technology company LeEco said on Thursday that its sports unit has canceled an investment deal with a major local football club, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on "core issues," according to Si & Shijia of CHINA DAILY. Le Sports said that it had paid the sponsorship fees according to the contract, but a disagreement with Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan football club on "core issues" led to the "collapse of an equity partnership between the two sides." The Beijing-based firm signed a 100M yuan ($14.9M) title sponsorship deal with Beijing Guoan in January. It was also widely reported that LeEco "would buy half of the club's ownership" for about 2B yuan ($300M). The football club, the Chinese mainland's first professional one, "was now looking for new investors." On Wednesday, local tech website 36kr.com cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., "would be one of the new investors." Ant Financial was "not immediately available for comment" (CHINA DAILY, 10/28).
