Good morning from Geneva.
The 2024 Olympic Games may or may not turn out to be a good investment for Paris and France, but they certainly have been an investment of choice among the country’s largest companies.
As rain fell on the Olympics' opening weekend in Paris, Jean-Pascal Tricoire and Christel Heydemann were among those cheerily posing for photos in ponchos. “Rainy event, happy event!” Tricoire posted on LinkedIn .
But the chairman of Schneider Electric, France’s leading energy management company, and the CEO of Orange, the country’s largest international mobile operator, are far from the only ones you’ll spot at Olympic venues these days.
Almost half of France’s Fortune Global 500 companies are official partners of the Games: Electricité de France (No. 55), retailer Carrefour (No. 125), parking operator Vinci (No. 202), construction materials firm Saint-Gobain (No. 263), pharma company Sanofi (No. 299), banking group Groupe BPCE (No. 300), Orange (No. 319), rail operator SNCF Group (No. 340), the national postal group La Poste (No. 403), Schneider Electric (No. 421), and industrial gas maker Air Liquide (No. 488).
To my knowledge, it’s rather exceptional that a G7 economy gets the support of so many of its largest companies in hosting the Games.
A big reason why? France’s economy is more centralized and state-directed than most, making it easier for leaders like President Emmanuel Macron to rally the chief executives of the nation’s largest companies behind the project.
But I’d offer two additional forces behind what may be the most corporate Olympic Games ever.
First, Paris decided to focus on sustainability. That made getting involved more attractive for companies such as EDF, Schneider, Saint-Gobain, and Air Liquide. They are all in the midst of large industrial transformations, aiming to get to net zero emissions and help their customers do the same. The Olympic Games in that sense are a priceless global display of their savoir-faire.
Second, as physical and emotional wellness becomes increasingly important for society and business, showing support for the most notable global event celebrating human health is a natural fit. For pharma giant Sanofi, the Games are “a unique opportunity to combine innovation for health with the practice of high-level sport;” the same rationale likely applies to other official partners, such as food producer Danone and sports retailer Decathlon.
All told, partnering with the Paris Olympics is a no-brainer for the companies involved. Nerio Alessandri, CEO of Technogym, the Olympics’ supplier of fitness equipment for the last eight Games, certainly sees it that way. “I have no KPIs,” the Italian executive told me just before the Games. “But it’s the most important exposure in the world.”
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Peter Vanham
peter.vanham@fortune.com
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