The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is losing one of its most important donors: the Japanese automobile giant Toyota is letting its sponsorship partnership with the Rings organization, which has existed since 2015, expire. Company boss Akio Toyoda confirmed the Asians’ exit, which was already announced in the run-up to the last Summer Games Paris speculation arose in a podcast on the YouTube channel of the world’s largest car manufacturer. According to the Japanese TV broadcaster NHK, the decision will also affect Toyota’s previous commitment to the Paralympics. Toyota justified the decision of its company, which was previously one of the 15 TOP sponsors of the IOC, with the “increasing politicization” of the Olympic movement : “I’ve been wondering for a while now whether the active players really come first at the games. For me, the Olympics should simply be about watching athletes from all walks of life in all kinds of challenges achieve the impossible.”
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Hole in the financial planning Even before Paris, the company’s internal exit strategies to end its cooperation with the IOC had leaked to the public. The Japanese media cited Toyota’s great dissatisfaction with the use of its sponsorship funds as the reason, which were “not used effectively to support the active participants and promote the sport.” For the IOC, Toyota’s exit means the loss of what is believed to be its largest sponsor initially a correspondingly large hole in his financial planning. According to local media estimates, Toyota is said to have transferred around $835 million to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne since the start of its Olympic commitment.More on the topicToyota is the second major Japanese company to end its cooperation with the IOC within a short period of time. Only at the beginning of the month did the electronics manufacturer Panasonic announce that it would not be extending its contract with the IOC, which expires at the end of the year, after a 37-year partnership. The group, which has also supported the Paralympics since 2014, cited “management considerations” for a strategic realignment of its use of funds as the reason.
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