FORBES: Sports Licensing Giant Fanatics To Launch In China With New Joint Venture

Company: AllCompany: Fanatics Commerce
Written By Seth Schlechter
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Michael Rubin has cornered the U.S. market for licensed sports apparel through his e-commerce company Fanatics, which handles online merchandise sales for the NFL, the NBA, MLB, Nascar and more than 300 other leagues and teams. Next on the billionaire’s agenda: China.

Fanatics today announced plans for a 50-50 joint venture with Hillhouse Capital that will open up the sports licensed market in China to Fanatics’ global partners. Hillhouse is an Asia-focused private equity firm with a deep investment background in online retailers, including Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and tech conglomerate Tencent. Another major investment is Topsports, which operates more than 20,000 Nike and Adidas stores in China…

Seth Schlechter
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