CVC Capital Partners Ltd., a U.K. private-equity company, have had their investors plan to question the firm over bribery allegations made in connection with its purchase of the Formula One car-racing series, the Financial Times reported.
CVC, which holds its annual investors meeting on Sept. 14, bought Formula One from banks including Germany’s Bayerische Landesbank for $1.7 billion in 2005. Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has taken the main focus from the Munich prosecutors over payments he made to Gerhard Gribkowsky, a former BayernLB banker who was arrested in January and has been in custody, the newspaper said.
Ecclestone hasn’t been charged with any offense, the FT said.
CVC, which has never been accused of any wrongdoing and said in January that it had no knowledge of any payments made to Gribkowsky, declined to comment on the prospect of questioning by investors, the newspaper reported.
A mistake by Barclaycard saw more than 100 people who applied for tickets for the London Olympics have their purchases declined after the transactions were flagged as suspicious because they did not follow the normal pattern of spending for the customers.
The Olympic organisers, LOCOG, say they will try and take payment again, while Barclaycard has apologised and said it has adjusted its fraud detection.
A female applicant stated: “I ordered about £2,000 (US$2,880) worth of tickets.
“I got an automated call saying that a payment had been blocked for £700 ($1,008) from a London ticketing agency. I assumed immediately it was the Olympics.”
After calling Barclaycard she confirmed the purchase was for Olympic tickets, adding: “They’d blocked it because it was an unusually large payment, which I thought was rather odd considering that it should be expected that people would be buying Olympics tickets.”
Nissan Becomes 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Sponsor, price Highland Spring had extended its partnership
The ATP announced that Nissan is a new sponsor for the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals while Highland Spring, UK bottled water provider, extended its partnership through 2013.
Nissan will be the official car supplier of the ATP final in London. The top 8 single players and the 4 doubles team playing this event will be riding Nissan cars like Qashqai, Murano, X-TRAIL, Navara, Pathfinder and LEAF vehicles.
John Parslow, Marketing Manager, Nissan Motor (GB) Limited commented: “We are thrilled to be involved in such a significant event, which extends Nissan’s proud partnership with The O2. The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals offers a brilliant opportunity to showcase our diverse range of cars, including the soon to launch Nissan LEAF, the world’s first, mass market family 100% electric vehicle.”
“We are happy to welcome Nissan as the official car supplier of the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Transportation services are a critical part of every ATP World Tour tournament and as a founding partner of the venue, Nissan is familiar with handling world-class events at The O2. We look forward to a successful partnership,” said Brad Drewett, Tournament Director, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Highland Spring signed a four-year agreement as the official water supplier to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Claire Wilson, Head of Sponsorship at Highland Spring, commented: “The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is one of the biggest and most exciting events on the international sporting calendar and provides a fantastic platform for Highland Spring to strengthen its association with tennis. We are looking forward to supporting the event for the next four years and are delighted to be keeping the world’s top eight players hydrated during the tournament.”
Brad Drewett, Tournament Director of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, said: “The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has quickly established a terrific home for itself in London, and having Highland Spring as official water supplier will further boost the reputation of the event.”
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s bid to become vice-president of the International Cricket Committee (ICC) is over after the governing body’s executive board rejected his nomination at a meeting in Singapore.
Howard was put up as the candidate of Cricket Australia and Cricket New Zealand, as it is their turn to fill the position, but there was widespread opposition to his appointment and the ICC has announced he “did not have sufficient support” from the board.
It appears it was Howard’s political history which may have cost him the position. As a critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, he lost support from Zimbabwe, South Africa, and later, the influential Asian block.
The boards of Australia and New Zealand now have to submit a new candidate by 31 August.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) (Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali) and Infront Sports & Media, viagra 100mg its strategic marketing agent and advisor, have launched a new fan-oriented web portal www.fisi.org.
Developed by Infront’s dedicated digital media experts, the state-of-the-art online platform provides the key point of reference for fans, to source information, to experience the sports action and directly interact with athletes. The portal has been rolled out as part of a strategic partnership agreement signed last year between Infront and FISI. The ultimate objective of the collaboration is to enhance the impact of the FISI brand on both a national and international level.
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront, said: “A high impact digital presence is a key element towards enhancing the perception of the FISI brand and supporting the federation to more effectively connect to its ever growing fan base.
“Thanks to our comprehensive partnership, we can help develop the federation’s brand positioning across the board, generating immediate results by having a positive impact on sponsorship marketing and audience appeal. We look forward to continuing this successful path with FISI leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.”
WWE today announced the appointment of Lou Schwartz as the company’s Chief Digital Officer.
Schwartz, anesthetist who previously held executive level positions at UUX, clinic Piksel and Multicast, will report directly to WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
Schwartz will lead WWE’s Digital Media division and be a key member of the company’s senior management team.
Schwartz’s primary focus will be on expanding WWE’s digital and social media presence and profitability. He will also be responsible for developing strategic plans and initiatives for all digital platforms including WWE.com, WWE App and social media where WWE has a passionate fan base of nearly 415 million worldwide.
In addition, Schwartz will oversee product development and operations for WWE Network, the first over-the-top (OTT) 24/7 streaming network with scheduled and live programming as well as a massive video-on-demand library.
Prior to joining WWE, Schwartz was CEO of UUX, where he successfully led the merger of Totalmovie, a leading Latin American retail OTT service, with OTT Networks, a best-in-class Brazilian content management software and service company, to form the first cloud based OTT platform for next generation operators around the world.
Cardiff has been announced as the host for Snooker’s BetVictor Welsh Open world ranking event, the first time since 2004 that the city has hosted the event.
The tournament has been staged in Newport in recent years but now moves to the Motorpoint Arena in the Welsh capital and will run from February 16th to 22nd, 2015.
The BBC Wales-televised event will be contested by 128 players, all starting in the same round, with a top prize of £60,000.
This year’s final saw Ronnie O’Sullivan thrash Ding Junhui 9-3, making an incredible 147 maximum break in the last frame. Other winners in recent years include Stephen Maguire, Ding, John Higgins, Ali Carter, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson.
World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: “The BetVictor Welsh Open has grown dramatically in recent years with increased prize money, growing live attendances and a new structure. While we are grateful to the people of Newport for their support, it is time to move the event down the M4 to the capital city to allow it to continue to build momentum.
“The Motorpoint Arena is a top class venue and a fitting stage for the world’s very best snooker players. This is a tournament with such a rich history, ever present on our calendar as a world ranking event for over 20 years. I have no doubt that the people of South Wales will be out in force to make the 2015 Welsh Open a truly spectacular week of snooker.”
A new management team stepped in and announced ownership of RFU Championship’s Nottingham Rugby.
The management-led team bought the club from the former owners Jason Brewer and Luke Jones on Christmas Eve.
The new owners led by existing directors Alistair Bow and Simon Beatham, are all known ‘friends’ of Nottingham Rugby, representing a significant shift from the previous ownership structure of the club.
The deal hopes to rescue the existing state of Nottingham Rugby by funding the needs of its immediate financial demands with the hopes of securing the club’s future in the Championship.
Alistair Bow will remain club chairman whilst existing Directors Simon Beatham and Diane Orson will also stay on the board. They are joined by Philip Barltrop, former Finance Director of Aggregate Industries UK and Chris Simon, the club’s current Operations Director.
Existing director and Chief Executive of the new management Simon Beatham said: “”We’ve achieved our initial objective of securing immediate stability for the club, but our target is to ensure we have the mechanics in place to take us up to the end of the 2015-16 season. This is when the league structure and agreement with the RFU (Long Form Agreement) will be renegotiated. It’s extremely important that we have a position at the top table of professional rugby until at least that season.”
Bow said: “This is good news for Nottingham Rugby, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve been working hard for almost 12 months to secure the necessary funding to ensure the survival of one of the oldest rugby clubs in the country. I’d like to welcome all of our new shareholders to Nottingham Rugby and thank them for their commitment for the next three seasons. We’re on the way to achieving the first stage of our plan, which was to stabilise the club and make sure we have a base level of funding to maintain our existence and place in the Championship at least.”
With the Sochi WInter Olympics on the horizon, Procter & Gamble (P&G) – one of the event’s leading sponsors – has launched its latest advertising campaign while revealing it is expecting a modest revenue return for the games.
The company, which makes a number of household goods including Duracell batteries and Gillette razors, revealed in 2013 it had secured a $500 million sales boost for London 2012 but is expecting a third of that figure for the Winter Games.
“The Winter Games aren’t typically as big as the summer Games,” said Marc Pritchard (pictured), global brand-building officer for U.S.-based P&G, which joined the group of 10 leading Olympic sponsors in 2010.
The focus of the new P&G campaign, featuring clips of sports such as skating and skiing to be shown in TV commercials and online, will be on countries where winter sports have large followings, including Russia itself, China, the United States, Canada, Germany and Poland.
Their new advertisement “Pick Them Back Up” will appear in more than 20 countries across the world. The spot will be available online on P&G’s YouTube channel on January 6th and will also be aired on U.S. television, with a notable debut during the Golden Globes on January 12th. The film also features music created by the same world-renowned composer from “Best Job,” Ludovico Einaudi. Known for his emotive and effortlessly lyrical music, Einaudi’s new composition evokes the love, passion and commitment that moms have for their children.
“For winter we found that it’s best to start right after the holidays and then leading up to the Games,” Pritchard said.
The company is again using the “Thank You Mom” message that featured in its London Olympic commercials, underlining the role mothers play in bringing up successful athletes.
“Mom’s contributions to their kids’ lives are full of incredible sacrifices,” said Jodi Allen, P&G VP of North American Marketing and Brand Operations. “We’re so moved by these moms and the way they help their children overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams. As athletes are named to Team USA, we celebrate the person that helped get each athlete there and who picked them up each time they fell – mom!”
The Games have focused attention on Russia’s human rights record and in particular its attitude towards homosexuality.
Pritchard believes the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ensure the Olympics are not marred by prejudice.
“What we would expect out of the Games is that athletes should be able to compete regardless of their national origin, gender or sexual orientation,” he said.
“We’re fully confident that the IOC will ensure that these Games come … free of discrimination.” {jcomments on}
Germany’s leading sports rights agency SPORT FIVE have signed an agreement with the Hamburg Foundation to continue the promotion of Team Hamburg, a group that helps generate interest in the city.
As part of the agreement, the Athletes will be supported financially on a monthly basis, in order to concentrate for the next world championships and Olympic Games to full training and competition can. Reinhard Wolf, CEO of the Foundation, hopes that the agreement a significant increase in the delivery rate.
“SPORT FIVE has proven specialists for the marketing of sports rights. The TEAM HAMBURG has already taken care of during the games in London for positive attention. We now hope that we can expand the top sports promotion in our city on through the professional marketing, “says Wolf. The management of the TEAM HAMBURG done by the Olympic base Hamburg / Schleswig-Holstein, Team
“The Olympic Games are the greatest thing a competitive athlete can achieve in amateur sport. In the future, to be able to make a contribution to bring more hamburgers to the games and if possible medals, we are particularly pleased, “said Philip Hasenbein, Managing SPORT FIVE.
