Former Disney CEO: ‘I’m going to the Metaverse!’

Bob Iger, who ran Walt Disney Co. from 2005 to early 2020, has a brand new gig: A seat on the board of a Los Angeles tech firm.

Iger, 71, is becoming a member of (and investing in) Genies Inc., which helps celebrities and different customers create avatars for on-line interactions within the burgeoning Metaverse.

What does that imply? It means Genies creates cartoonish stand-ins for individuals to work together in what Fb’s Mark Zuckerberg and different Silicon Valley bigwigs hope will probably be a virtual-reality-fueled amping up of the web.

The cash for one thing as esoteric as that apparently lies in charging individuals for avatar creations after which charging them once more (and once more) for digital garments and equipment — you realize, getting individuals to shell out actual cash for issues that haven’t any worth in the true world.

“Think about, you realize, letting somebody purchase a Mickey Mouse avatar and customizing it in a manner that not solely would we by no means enable it earlier than, however it was sort of onerous to do within the bodily world,” Iger advised the Wall Streeet Journal.

Genies signed partnerships with Common Music Group NV and Warner Music Group final 12 months, and reportedly counts Cardi B, Rihanna and Justin Bieber amongst its customers.

I’ve been skeptical about these so-called Metaverse performs. It’s not but clear that billions of individuals worldwide will spend money on VR gear and search to buy and socialize on-line within the type of colourful avatars.

However I’m paying extra consideration to Genies due to Iger. His tenure at Disney was extraordinary, marked by the corporate’s acquisition of Marvel and Star Wars, to not point out many different shrewd enterprise strikes.

If Iger thinks the longer term is in goofy on-line encounters, who am I to say in any other case?