Business
Walmart teams up with Spain’s La Liga, furthering the retailer’s investment in soccer
Real Madrid’s Spanish defender #20 Francisco Garcia fights for the ball with Barcelona’s Spanish forward #19 Lamine Yamal during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona, on May 11, 2025.
Lluis Gene | Afp | Getty Images
Walmart is bringing its brand to the biggest match in soccer.
The nation’s largest retailer plans to announce Thursday a partnership with Spanish soccer league La Liga as it looks to expand its foothold in soccer and capitalize on its growing fandom in the U.S.
Under the partnership, Walmart will become the first presenting partner of La Liga’s “El Clásico,” a rivalry matchup between its two powerhouse teams: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF.
“Teaming up with La Liga and El Clásico enables Walmart to fuel the energy create unforgettable experiences and give fans more ways to celebrate the game that they love,” Walmart Chief Marketing Officer William White told CNBC in an interview. “Ultimately, Walmart is looking to make it easier for fans to engage and participate in the game.”
The partnership will include a new logo featuring Walmart as the presenting partner for the rivalry matchup, which will be used across the U.S. and Canada and debut this season.
The rivalry game dates back to 1929 and has routinely attracted 650 million viewers across more than 180 countries, according to Walmart and La Liga.
The first El Clásico, which translates to “the classic” in Spanish, of the 2025-26 season is scheduled for Oct. 26 in Madrid, with the second match on May 10 in Barcelona.
Walmart and La Liga will launch the partnership ahead of the first match-up with a full weekend of fan events in Houston starting Oct. 24. The partnership will include large-scale viewing parties, concerts, meet-and-greets with former stars, co-branded merchandise and retail promotions.
“The U.S. is the top market for the league [La Liga] in terms of audience and business outside of Spain,” said Boris Gartner, partner and president at Relevant Sports, which together with La Liga formed the 50-50 venture La Liga North America to represent the Spanish league in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America.
La Liga North America manages the league’s media rights and commercial agreements.
“This is not just about slapping two logos side by side. This is a true partnership with what we’re building,” Gartner said.
Spanish powerhouse clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona have been home to some of the biggest global names in soccer — including superstar Lionel Messi, who played for Barcelona until 2021 and now plays for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami, and more recently the young French star Kylian Mbappe, who joined Real Madrid.
In the U.S., Disney’s ESPN airs La Liga games on its streaming platforms and TV networks. The company said in August the 2024-2025 season was its most successful for the league on ESPN platforms yet, with 5.4 billion minutes viewed across its networks and streaming services.
The Spanish league’s multi-year deal with Walmart is meant to build on this growing audience for La Liga soccer in the U.S., as well as the growing soccer fanbase ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
“We came in knowing that the World Cup was happening in 2026 and that the sport was growing significantly in in the U.S., and that we needed to be part of that growth not just from a business perspective for the league in the large media market in the world, but also with the opportunity to help fuel the growth of the sport,” Gartner said.
In July, Walmart struck a multi-year deal with MLS to become an official sponsor and partner of the league. As of early May, MLS sponsorship revenue was up double-digits compared with 2024, CNBC reported earlier this year. Likewise, the U.S. soccer fanbase has surged, particularly since Messi joined the MLS ranks in 2023.
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Michael RaceBusiness reporter, BBC News
Getty ImagesJaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it has begun a “phased restart” of its operations with parts of its IT system back up and running.
The company said it was “working to clear a backlog of payments” to suppliers as it now had increased its processing capacity for invoicing.
The carmaker’s production lines have been suspended since a cyber attack in August forced the company to shut down its IT networks. Its factories remain closed until next month at the earliest.
The government is considering stepping in to support JLR’s parts suppliers, with concerns growing that some, mostly small businesses, could go bust due to the prolonged shutdown of operations.
JLR said on Thursday that its recovery programme was “firmly under way” and that its global parts logistics centre, which supplies spare parts that service customers’ vehicles, “returning to full operations”.
“The financial system we use to process the wholesales of vehicles has been brought back online and we are able to sell and register vehicles for our clients faster, delivering important cash flow,” the company added.
The carmaker said it recognised that the situation was a “difficult time for all connected with JLR”, with no new cars being built and staff being sent home from work.
The manufacturer, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, typically builds about 1,000 cars a day at its three factories in Solihull and Wolverhampton in West Midlands, and Halewood in Merseyside.
Workers have been told to stay home since 1 September, with no firm return date.
About 30,000 people are directly employed at the company’s plants with about 100,000 working for firms in the supply chain. Some of these firms supply parts exclusively to JLR, while others sell components to other carmakers as well.
Calls have been made to support suppliers, whose businesses are under threat as a result of the knock-on impact of the cyber attack.
One idea being explored is the government buying the component parts the suppliers build, with the aim of keeping the companies in JLR’s supply chain in business until production lines are up and running again.
However, firms have told the BBC they are sceptical about the success of such a scheme.
The government “simply don’t understand the complexity of what they’re dealing with”, said one supplier.
“We don’t need promises, we need help.”
Unions have called for a Covid-style furlough scheme, but ministers have ruled this out given its likely cost, sources have told the BBC.
While the purchase and stockpiling of car parts by the government is an option on the table, this would present considerable logistical challenges.
JLR’s manufacturing process relies on the right part arriving at the right place, at the right time.
Another option being considered is government-backed loans to suppliers, though this is understood to be unpopular with suppliers.
Listening to the stories of the world’s most prominent billionaires, one thing becomes clear: there’s no single roadmap to success. Some achieve extraordinary heights without even finishing college. Icons like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are well-known examples—but now, a new name has joined their ranks: Lucy Guo.
Lucy Guo is a 30-year-old woman who is the founder of a content creator platform called Passes. In June 2025, Forbes named her the youngest self-made billionaire, with her net worth estimated at $1.25 billion (approximately Rs 115,271,000,000). But Lucy’s journey wasn’t easy.
She studied computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. However, she dropped out of college with just one year left to complete her degree.
In 2011, she joined the Thiel Fellowship, where PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel awards $200,000 to selected young people to start their own companies. This decision was a shock to her parents.
According to a CNBC report, Lucy said, “My parents risked everything for our future in America. When I left school so close to my graduation, it felt like giving up on a dream.” But Lucy didn’t give up. She started her first business, Scale AI, which was later acquired by tech giant Meta. This deal changed her life.
She also said, “My advice is to go to college for at least a year or two. You’ll find your best friends and the smartest people in life there.” Lucy believes that college is a place where everyone is open to friendship and learning. She said that future partners and employees can also be found there. “So, identify smart friends in college and make friends with them – they may later become part of your company,” she said.
The Thiel Fellowship marked a turning point in Lucy’s life. She explained that it brought her into a community where building unicorn startups was commonplace. Lucy said, “Building a successful company requires a little madness and a lot of confidence. The fellowship gave me the environment where I felt, ‘Yes, I can do this too’.”
Lucy’s story is an inspiration for every young person. Dropping out of college isn’t easy, but choosing the right path can lead to new heights. Today, at 30, she runs Passes, a company that is taking content creators to new heights. Her inclusion on the Forbes list proves that anything can be achieved with hard work and courage.
New Delhi: Shares of Tata Motors fell around 2.99 per cent in early trading on Thursday following reports that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), its British subsidiary, could incur a potential uninsured loss of approximately €2 billion due to a cyberattack that disrupted production. The impact could surpass JLR’s total profit from the last fiscal year, said a report from The Financial Times.
JLR had not finalised a cyber insurance policy brokered by Lockton, potentially leaving the automaker uninsured for the attack, according to multiple media reports. The cyberattack, which occurred on September 2, has forced the company to repeatedly push back its production schedule. JLR announced it will extend factory closures until October 1 while addressing global IT issues and preparing for a phased restart of operations.
“We are working at pace to resolve global IT issues impacting our business. We will provide an update as appropriate in due course,” Tata Motors said in a statement earlier this month. The company’s three UK plants in Solihull, Halewood, and Wolverhampton used to produce approximately 1,000 cars daily, with reports estimating losses of around £50 million per week due to the plants being shut down.
JLR is carrying out a forensic investigation into the cyberattack and has said that operations will restart gradually in a controlled manner.
During FY25, Jaguar Land Rover contributed 72 per cent to Tata Motors’ total automotive revenue, higher than its contribution in FY24, indicating stronger growth at JLR compared to Tata’s domestic vehicle segment.
Meanwhile, in India, Tata Motors recorded approximately 10,000 car deliveries and over 25,000 enquiries on the first day of Navaratri, marking a strong start to the festive season. Over the past year, Tata Motors shares dipped Rs 300.90, a decline of 31.23 per cent.
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