- Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers worth $700 million.
- The impact of the historic deal may be showing up among corporate sponsors listed in Japan.
- Shares of Mitsubishi, Seiko, and others gained Monday.
Shohei Ohtani, who’s elite pitching and batting have earned him comparisons to Babe Ruth, inked a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.
It’s the largest in baseball history by more than $250 million — and it seems to be having an impact on Japan’s stock market.
The hefty contract for the 29-year-old — who just secured his second MVP award in the American League — appears to be pushing the share prices of several corporate sponsors higher, as Bloomberg first reported.
Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Kose, and Seiko Group all trended higher Monday in Tokyo. Kose and Seiko climbed 2.4% and 1.8%, respectively, outperforming the Japanese benchmark Topix on the day, while Mitsubishi moved 1.9% higher.
“To all Dodgers fans, I pledge to always do what’s best for the team and always continue to give it my all to be the best version of myself,” Ohtani wrote on Instagram.
It’s not the first time Ohtani’s star power is rippling through the equity market. As Bloomberg previously reported, in April 2021 when he started as a pitcher while leading the MLB in home runs, an equal-weighted basket for five companies sponsoring him all beat the Bloomberg World Apparel Index and the Topix Index over the subsequent several months.
Professor Katsuhiro Miyamoto, who teaches at Kansai University in Japan, wrote in a report cited by Bloomberg that Ohtani’s jump from the Angels to the Dodgers will have a $437 million economic impact in 2024.
Broadly, Japanese stocks have pulled back in recent weeks from multi-decade highs. In the week ending December 8, the Nikkei 225 Index had one of its worst five-day stretches of the year, while the yen strengthened against the dollar.
