The Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China on Monday.

The political action will not prevent U.S. athletes from competing in the Beijing games but bars U.S. government officials from attending. 

The boycott is in protest of human rights “atrocities” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives previously introduced legislation to trigger a diplomatic boycott, citing the genocide of the Uyghur population in China.

The boycott further complicates the situation for major Olympic sponsors.

• Ten of the 12 largest Olympic sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Intel, Toyota, and Procter & Gamble, combine for $110 billion in annual revenue in the country, according to Bloomberg.
• Nike and Adidas faced boycotts in China after both companies expressed concerns over reports of Uyghurs being subjected to forced labor in the Xinjiang region.
• In April, Nike sales dropped 59% and Adidas sales dropped 78% year-over-year on China’s biggest e-commerce platform, Alibaba’s Tmall. 

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said earlier that should the U.S. boycott, “China will take resolute countermeasures.” 

The Beijing Olympics will begin on Feb. 4. The U.S. will host the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

The San Francisco 49ers’ ownership group has a deal in place to purchase the Premier League’s Leeds United for more than $530 million, according to The Athletic. 

The deal includes an option for 49ers Enterprises to acquire 100% control of Leeds by January 2024 — including the club’s Elland Road stadium, which approved a plan in June to increase capacity to 55,000. 

49ers Enterprises originally purchased a 10% equity stake in the club worth a reported $13.6 million in 2018 from majority stakeholder and Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani.

Radrizzani bought the club from Italian entrepreneur Massimo Cellino in 2014 for $52 million and currently maintains a 56% ownership stake.

Leeds climbed back into the Premier League in 2020 after a 16-year absence, prompting 49ers Enterprises to steadily increase its stake. 

• In December 2020, it bumped its stake to 25%, valuing Leeds at $326 million.
• A month later, the group increased its minority stake to 37%.
• Last month, it increased its stake to 44%.
• The cost of buying 100% control includes the money already paid for the existing stakes. 

Radrizzani wants Leeds to be worth $1.15 billion within the next five years. Last year, the owner voiced his willingness to sell stakes in the club to reach that goal. It is expected that Radrizzani will retain a minority stake once the deal is finalized.

Poland’s biggest sports betting company — STS Holding SA — says it wants to use the $266 million raised in its IPO toward an investment arm.

The company plans to invest in Warsaw-listed stocks in the technology, ecommerce, and real estate sectors, which will take up 20% to 30% of the company’s portfolio, according to CEO Mateusz Juroszek.

As of February 2021, STS has a 45.8% market share in Poland. The company is led by the Juroszek family, which owned 100% of company shares before the company’s public listing. 

• The Juroszeks own 10% stakes in asset managers Skarbiec Holding SA and Quercus TFI SA.
• The family also owns stakes in Flutter Entertainment, Evolution AB, and Better Collective — and are looking for more investment opportunities in the U.S.
• The company is reportedly eyeing Poland’s largest ecommerce platform, Allegro, despite its stocks dropping 56% due to Amazon’s entrance into the Polish market.

“We look for targets in central and Eastern Europe, but we don’t have anything precise on the radar,” Juroszek said.

Juroszek doesn’t expect the investment entity to be fully up and running for as many as five years. It will also include dividends from the family’s home building business, Atal SA. STS’ IPO put the company at double Atal’s value.