On Air Now

Listen

Listen Live Now » 101.9 FM Central Wisconsin

Weather

Current Conditions(Wausau,WI 54403)

More Weather »
73° Feels Like: 73°
Wind: NNE 12 mph Past 24 hrs - Precip: 0”
Current Radar for Zip

Tonight

Isolated Thunderstorms 52°

Tomorrow

Showers 65°

Wed Night

Showers 44°

Alerts

GE says London Olympics bring in $100 million in sales

A General Electric Company (GE) logo is seen on a toggle switch package in New York January 18, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A General Electric Company (GE) logo is seen on a toggle switch package in New York January 18, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

(Reuters) - General Electric Co sold about $100 million of lights, power supplies and medical devices for the London Olympic Games, less than for Beijing's massive build-out but still enough to justify the largest U.S. conglomerate's sponsorship, officials said on Monday.

Since signing on as a top-level Olympic sponsor in 2005, GE has generated about $1 billion in revenue from selling equipment for the stadiums and athlete villages in Torino, Beijing and Vancouver -- with about half that amount coming from China's 2008 games.

"At the time when Beijing went for the Olympics, they invested a lot. There was just a lot more to be built and developed," said Beth Comstock, GE's chief marketing officer. "London has a much more measured approach in terms of infrastructure, but we certainly are happy that we participated."

The backers of the London games spent about $14 billion in building new Olympic venues and overhauling existing sites, well less than the estimated $40 billion that China spent.

The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company declined to say how much it paid for its Olympic sponsorship -- Olympic contracts prohibit sponsors from disclosing the amount -- but said the revenue generated from Olympic projects has justified its sponsorship.

"It has been a good return for us," said Comstock. "It has been easily justifiable, a no-brainer in terms of the return."

GE's sponsorship contract runs through 2020. While the world's largest maker of electric turbines and jet engines no longer owns a majority stake in U.S. Olympic broadcaster NBC Universal -- now majority owned by Comcast Corp -- it is still finding that the sponsorship has paid off, Comstock said.

That is largely because the Olympics gives it a chance to show off its ability to sell into large-scale projects. GE has made a practice of pitching its wares directly to governments in emerging markets, from Saudi Arabia to China, for large-scale infrastructure projects like power plants and water purification systems, Comstock said.

The 11 top-level Olympic sponsors also include McDonald's Corp , Dow Chemical Co and Visa Inc .

(Reporting By Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Comments