Lamigo Monkeys’ management yesterday confirmed that the club are being sold to Japan’s Rakuten, saying that a news conference would be held today with representatives from the Tokyo-based e-commerce firm to make an official announcement.
The Japanese-language sports daily Sankei Sports was the first to break the news, reporting that the negotiations over the sale were successful.
The parties are in the process of reaching a deal, said Monkeys general manager Justin Liu (劉玠廷), son of club founder Liu Pao-yu (劉保佑), adding that more details about the transaction would be announced with the Rakutan representatives today.
Justin Liu has kept the league informed about the ongoing negociations, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) secretary-general Fong Sheng-shien (馮勝賢) said.
CPBL commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) is to attend the news conference today, given the importance of the sale, Fong added.
Management needs to submit sale paperwork to the league and there are several procedural hurdles to jump through, Fong said, adding that the sale could not be finalized until the league’s executive council approved it.
The league’s rules about changing team ownership and adding a shareholder differ, Fong added.
In June, the Monkeys won the CPBL championship, their 13th. They set a record as the nation’s only professional baseball team to win five consecutive titles.
Despite the team’s success, the public was shocked to hear from club management in July that it was looking for a buyer after sustaining losses of NT$1.6 billion (US$51.61 million) over the past 16 years.
According to sports experts, the Japanese e-commerce group is to acquire the team for NT$330 million, a low price to pay for a multinational corporation that can earn about NT$285 billion in sales revenue per year.
However, the price that the group reportedly offered was below market value, the experts said, adding that Rakuten likely offered to become a club shareholder and let Justin Liu continue as manager.
Rakuten owns a professional baseball team in Japan, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, and a professional soccer club, Vissel Kobe, in the J1 League.
In 2016, the group beat out other international firms in signing the soccer club Barcelona to a four-year, US$235 million agreement that allows Rakuten to put its name on the front of the side’s jerseys. Rakuten also secured a deal to have a patch with the company brand on the jerseys of the Golden State Warriors.
Next month, Rakuten is to sponsor NBA overseas warmup games between the Toronto Raptors and the Houston Rockets in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, which would be a first in sports history for an East-Asian country.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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