Suning-Inter Milan is just a beginning of a Giant Dream

The new Suning-Inter Milan deal marks just the first step in a far greater ambition for Chinese retail giant Suning, which plans to run a global sports empire including online broadcasting.

Suning and Inter Milan are scheduled to make an announcement in Nanjing today, confirming the retailer will buy a majority stake in the soccer club. However, Reuters reports that Suning is seeking deals to help create a global sporting “ecosystem”, including not only club ownership, but sports media rights, player agencies, training institutions, broadcast platforms, content production and sports-related eCommerce.

Having a majority stake in Inter Milan would make Suning the first mainland Chinese business to control a major European soccer entity. With annual revenues exceeding US$20 billion, Suning already owns local soccer club Jiangsu Suning and has spent millions of dollars bringing in players including Brazil’s Alex Teixeira and former Chelsea midfielder Ramires.

It also has ties with Spanish champion FC Barcelona and England’s Liverpool FC, and has a stake in Chinese online content platform PPTV.

Suning’s moves are echoed by other Chinese investors who have taken minority stakes in England’s Manchester City, Spain’s Atletico Madrid and New York City FC. Spanish club Espanyol and England’s Aston Villa are Chinese-owned, while Inter Milan rival AC Milan is discussing the sale of a majority stake to a group of Chinese investors.

Inter Milan is currently owned by Indonesian tycoon Erick Thohir, while former owner Massimo Moratti retains a nearly 30 per cent stake.