Bob Iger, Disney’s Web3-Supporting Ex-CEO, Returns to Position: Details

Iger’s return to Disney could potentially be a hint at the entertainment company’s dive into the metaverse

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Richa Sharma | Updated: 21 November 2022 18:23 IST

Bob Iger, Disney’s Web3-Supporting Ex-CEO, Returns to Position: Details

Photo Credit: Reuters

Disney has not revealed details of any plans or patents around its virtual world simulator

Highlights

Disney has expanded employee-base with Web3 experts
Bob Iger’s refreshed stint at Disney could go for as long as two years
Bob Iger is part of Disney’s Web3 initiatives

Bob Iger, the ex-CEO of Disney who stepped down from his position in 2020, is returning to his former position. After moving on from Disney, Iger took up a senior role in Genies, a digital avatar platform running on Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain. His return to Disney could potentially be a hint at the entertainment company's dive into the metaverse. As per its hiring posts, Disney has been expanding its employee-base with people with expertise in Web3-related projects.

Iger, as part of his new term as the Disney CEO, will work to modify the strategic direction for Disney overall, to suit to the younger audiences, which includes its metaverse and NFT-related plans.

Iger was still at Disney as an executive and board chairman when the company filed for a metaverse-related patent. The filings hinted that Disney wanted to create a ‘virtual world simulator in a real-world venue'.

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The entertainment giant would also enable Disney theme park visitors to use phones to generate personalised 3D effects onto nearby physical spaces like walls or tables.

In his absence, Disney continued to work on its Web3 projects that could soon see the light of the day now that Iger is back.

As of now, Disney has not revealed details of any plans or patents around its virtual world simulator.

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At the time of resignation, Iger reportedly wanted to focus on the creation of winning Disney content.

It is however noteworthy that Iger is returning to Disney only on a temporary basis that could go for as long as two years.

Disney says Iger will return as CEO for two years.

In a staff email, he said…

“These times remain quite challenging, but as you have heard me say before, I am an optimist.”

Of note, Iger was close with another return CEO…Steve Jobs. pic.twitter.com/sn1bxuF8aT
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) November 21, 2022

Iger would be replacing Bob Chapek as the CEO of Disney. Chapek who was assigned the designation after Iger's resignation back in 2020.

Meanwhile, in July this year, Polygon was chosen for Disney's accelerator program this year that sees the entertainment firm provide guidance from its leadership team and offer a dedicated mentor.

Disney has also released several lines of NFTs in partnership with the digital collectibles marketplace VeVe since 2021.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Disney, Bob Iger

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More