Chinese e-commerce company Jing Dong announced that its retail platform Jing Dong Retail has become the exclusive e-commerce partner of China’s top Honor of Kings competition, the King Pro League (KPL), as well as the $4.6M USD Honor of Kings World Champion Cup.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tencent and Jing Dong hosted an online signing ceremony July 15 announcing the deal. President of KPL Union Yijia Zhang and Jingping Shao, vice president of Jing Dong Group, represented their respective companies at the ceremony.
In China’s esports industry, Jing Dong has made achievements in League of Legends. JingDong Gaming (JDG), the League of Legend Pro League (LPL) team of Jing Dong, won the 2020 LPL Spring Split. This win brought commercial value to Jing Dong’s e-commerce platform, as well as a sponsorship deal between JDG and Sony China.
In June, Jingdong’s rival platform Suning became the exclusive e-commerce partner of LPL. According to Chinese business outlet 36Kr, Jing Dong was also a participant in the bidding process.
JDG does not own an Honor of Kings team that competes in KPL.
