Acer to sponsor Vancouver and London Olympics

TAIWAN-BASED computer company Acer signed up as a global Olympic sponsor yesterday, just days after Chinese rival Lenovo decided to drop out after next year's Beijing Games.

Acer will become a top-tier sponsor of the Olympics in 2009, the company said on its Website.

Acer Inc, the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer by global sales, will provide computers for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 London Games.

"For the Olympic Movement, this partnership will deliver funding to help stage the Olympic Games in Vancouver and London, technology and services to manage the logistical demands, and people to staff some of the most critical functions," IOC president Jacques Rogge said.

Lenovo, which dropped out earlier this week, is ranked third by sales, behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

Acer will get exclusive global rights to associate its brand with the Olympics for those two events. Other sponsors already signed up for that period include Coca-Cola, General Electric, McDonald's and Visa.

Neither Acer nor the International Olympic Committee disclosed how much the sponsorship was worth. Analysts have estimated that Lenovo paid US$80 million-US$100 million in cash and services for the three-year cycle covering the 2006 Turin Olympics and next year's Beijing Games.

Olympic global sponsorships remain highly desirable and their price tags continue to climb, partly as a result of the IOC's decision to limit the number of top-level sponsors.

Earlier this week Dow Jones Indexes, the owner of the Dow Jones industrial average, revealed that companies associated with the Beijing Olympics strongly outperformed the market average this year.

Agencies