Kobe Bryant’s bromance with Jack Ma may be his biggest game winner yet

Image credit: adapted from photos on Wikimedia

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant has launched his US$100 million LA-based venture capital firm, and he appeared on CNBC alongside partner Jeff Stibel to talk about it. What captured my attention though was this:

Yes, Bryant Stibel lists Alibaba Group as a portfolio company. A bit of history: Kobe and Jeff have invested in 15 companies together since 2013. The formation of the firm makes the partnership official.

Kobe’s association with Alibaba may not be that surprising. The superstar is idolized by the masses in China, with 4.8 million fans on Sina Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter. If you’re a celebrity of that stature, you can damn well meet whoever you want.

“I’ll just cold call people and pick their brain about stuff,” said Kobe in an interview on Bloomberg. He listed Apple’s Jony Ive, Oprah Winfrey, and Arianna Huffington as people he’s reached out to.

He may even have Alibaba founder Jack Ma on speed dial. Jack met Kobe as early as 2009 at an event to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary. They bantered on stage, and Kobe presented Jack a pair of sneakers.

BFFs forever

The bromance blossomed. According to a press release (ironically not published by Alibaba), Kobe invested in the ecommerce giant in 2014.

Later that year, Jack visited Hollywood to reach out to the entertainment capital and strengthen Alibaba’s offerings.

Then, in 2015, Kobe hammered out an even deeper partnership with Alibaba, letting the company release his documentary via a Tmall set-top box.

Alibaba Pictures also collaborated with the basketball player to create a range of Kobe-related products, which were sold on Taobao and Tmall.

Finally, Alibaba and Sina agreed to collaborate with Kobe to develop a new social media site to connect the star to his fans. The platform apparently serves as a prototype for a sort of celebrity-centric social media project.

I’ve reached out to Alibaba for comment and am waiting to hear back.