Disney Names its Metaverse Czar

Last week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek circulated a memo to employees announcing that veteran executive Mike White will now be tasked with creating the company’s metaverse strategy.

White has been with the company since 2011 and most recently led consumer experiences and platforms for Disney’s media and entertainment distribution unit. Before that, he was the CTO at Apollo Group and spent almost ten years in senior roles at Yahoo.

The memo, obtained by CNBC, details that White will be the iconic entertainment company’s SVP in charge of “next-generation storytelling” and “connecting the physical and digital worlds” — in other words, the metaverse.

The metaverse, popularized by Meta (née Facebook) and its CEO Mark Zuckerburg, is a series of immersive digital worlds that can be accessed by AR and VR technologies. In these digital realms, users will be able to meet, work, play games and even buy and sell virtual objects.

The concept represents a whole new revenue pool for Disney. It could license its intellectual property—from Mickey Mouse to Marvel—as playable avatars, sell virtual merchandise or even screen movies.

In the announcement, Chapek wrote, “Today, we have an opportunity to connect those universes and create an entirely new paradigm for how audiences experience and engage with our stories.”

While the metaverse is still 10 to 15 years from becoming a reality and isn’t guaranteed to be embraced by the public, Disney is making an early move to ensure it isn’t caught flat-footed when the time comes. The California-based company isn’t alone in its preparations as other entertainment giants, such as gaming firm Epic Games, are also appointing executives to explore the feasibility of the metaverse and the possibilities it could contain.